Rabies exposures and the use of post-bite rabies shots are rising across the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned in a nationwide health advisory issued September 10, 2026.
If you or a family member is bitten or scratched by a wild animal, or by a pet whose rabies vaccines are unknown, wash the wound right away with soap and water and call your doctor or local health department the same day. Whether you need shots is their call, made with you. The news does not mean rabies is suddenly common: CDC’s numbers track questions and shots given, not rabid animals.
Key takeaways
- CDC says reports of animal exposures and rabies post-exposure vaccinations increased across the country during the summer of 2026.
- CDC says there is no shortage of rabies vaccine or rabies immune globulin.
- At least eight state health departments reported more rabies shots, more mistakes in giving them, or both.
What happened
CDC said exposures to animals and rabies post-exposure vaccinations increased across the country this summer. CDC warned that errors in giving the shots can mean unnecessary treatment, side effects, and avoidable costs.
In one mass exposure, NBC News reported, three baby goats at a North Carolina mobile petting zoo tested positive for rabies. The petting zoo said a skunk found in their pen had bitten them.
Dr. Kumar’s take
Rabies is a disease of the nervous system, and that is why timing decides everything. After a bite, the virus moves into nearby nerves and travels along them toward the spinal cord and brain. CDC says rabies is preventable when people who have been exposed receive the rabies vaccine correctly before symptoms begin.
That makes CDC’s list of common treatment errors the real news. A shot series given the wrong way can leave someone underprotected against a disease with no second chance. You can check these yourself:
- Shoulder, not buttock. Adults get the vaccine in the shoulder muscle. A shot in the buttock is on CDC’s error list.
- Immune globulin goes into the wound. It should be injected into and around every wound, which puts antibodies where the virus entered before the vaccine takes effect. It never goes in the same syringe or the same spot as the vaccine.
- Five doses plus a blood test for weakened immune systems. People with compromised immune systems may need a five-dose vaccine series and a lab test to confirm their immune response is strong enough.
Tell the clinician about any past rabies vaccine or immune-suppressing drugs. Misjudging either one is another error on CDC’s list.
The advisory names no animal species or states, and it reports no human rabies cases this year. So the rise partly measures how many people sought care, not only how many rabid animals are out there, and a single petting zoo can send hundreds of people for shots. NBC News reports that fewer than 10 people in the US die from rabies each year, and credits pet vaccination, animal control programs, and testing and treatment for reducing the risk, part of how infectious disease deaths collapsed in the 1900s.
What it means for you
After a bite or scratch from a wild animal, or from a pet whose rabies vaccines you do not know, wash every wound right away with soap and water. Then call your doctor or health department the same day. Do not wait for symptoms, because by then the shots can no longer help.
This advisory is not a reason to demand shots after every animal contact, or to talk yourself out of calling after a real bite. That decision depends on the animal and what happened, and it belongs to your doctor or health department.
If you start shots, finish them. A late dose does not mean starting over, so call your provider to get back on schedule.
Keep your pets’ rabies vaccines up to date and keep them away from wildlife when possible. If a wild animal looks sick or injured, stay back and call animal control.