In humans, rabies comes mostly from bats, no dogs

When you think of rabies, you may think that dogs or raccoons are the first to transmit the viral disease, but according to a new report, it is more likely that you catch it by bats.

Rabies is a deadly virus that, until 1960, was mainly transmitted by domestic animals like the dog. Once they started getting vaccinated against the disease, however, wild animals became the main hosts of rabies, causing each year about one to three human deaths in the United States – a drop by more than 100 deaths per year in the early 1900s, depending on the centers. for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

"Reducing rabies in dogs is a remarkable achievement of the US public health system, but with this deadly disease still present in thousands of wild animals, it's important that Americans be aware of the risk," said the CDC director, Robert R. Redfield, in a press release for the new report of the agency.

The authors of the report examined national rabies data from 1938 to 2018 and compared them to the number of people who received anti-rabies treatment between 2006 and 2014.

From 1960 to 2018, 125 people were diagnosed with rabies, the report says. Eighty-nine of these cases were in the United States, of which 62 were bats and the rest were raccoons, skunks, foxes and native dogs. Cases that were not contracted in the United States were caused by dog ​​bites on international trips, the report says.

Rabies is spread mainly through the saliva of an animal infected with a bite or scratch. It is lethal more than 99% of the time, unless a person who thinks he has been exposed to the virus receives a treatment called post-exposure prophylaxis before the onset of symptoms, according to the CDC.

"The first [symptom] is usually painful or tingly – like a bee sting, "Emily Pieracci, veterinary epidemiologist for the CDC and lead author of the study, told ABC News. "Shortly after, the fever develops, followed by confusion [and] agitation. … People finally die of getting into a coma. "

The symptoms usually take about a month to start appearing, added Pieracci, adding that anyone who has been bitten or scratched by a bat or other unknown animal should avoid waiting if the symptoms occur before to get treatment. health care provider right away as a precaution.

According to Pieracci, bat scratches can be less than 1 millimeter wide, less than the head of an eraser.

That said, bats live in a variety of environments, including urban areas, attics, pavilions and campgrounds, Pieracci added. But although they can be found everywhere, she added that bats "also play a vital role in our ecosystem and it is important for people to know that most bats in the United States do not are not enraged.

Pieracci pointed out that you can not know if an animal has rabies just by looking at it. She added that people who handle bats have problems because they think they are not rabid. The same goes for dogs that you might see when traveling abroad.

"Many people think that a rabid dog is salivating, aggressive," Pieracci said. "But I saw them shy [and] shy and [then they] bite when you do not look. "

Dr. Heidi Choe is a physician in the Department of Rehabilitation and Human Performance at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York and has contributed to the ABC News Medical Unit.