As RFK Jr. Downplays Rabies, CDC Staff Tells Docs It's a Daily Threat

Just a week after Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. downplayed rabies during a Senate hearing based on the few annual fatalities, CDC staff held a call with physicians to emphasize that preventing further deaths requires millions of U.S. medical visits every year along with 100,000 preventive vaccinations. In an online seminar for clinicians on Thursday, a CDC official offered guidance on accurately preventing a dangerous viral infection that has an effective yet costly postexposure prophylaxis (PEP) vaccine but no FDA-approved treatment. The rabies virus attacks the central nervous system and causes progressive, fatal inflammation of the brain and spinal cord. Humans are typically infected via saliva from bites or scratches by infected mammals such as dogs, bats, skunks, or raccoons. Without timely PEP before symptom onset, infection is fatal. Worldwide, rabies causes an estimated 59,000 deaths annually. However, since 2000 the CDC has received only 1 to 8 reports per year of rabies-related human deaths in the U.S., in large part because of widespread canine vaccination. Two such deaths happened in 2024 in Minnesota and California, both following encounters with bats. Neither patient reported their bat encounter, and both failed to seek medical attention before the onset of rabies