The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a Health Alert Network Health Advisory after reporting more human exposures to rabid or possibly rabid animals and more rabies post-exposure prophylaxis errors. From July through August 2026, the agency received 17% more rabies-related inquiries than it did in the same stretch a year earlier.
That increase matters because rabies is nearly 100% fatal once symptoms begin, yet it can be prevented when post-exposure prophylaxis is given correctly and fast. The CDC said the rise came as multiple United States jurisdictions reported local increases in human exposures, and at least eight state health departments told the agency they had seen more PEP use, administration errors, or both.
Each year, about 1.4 million people in the United States seek medical care after animal contact and are evaluated for rabies risk, while about 100,000 receive PEP after a potential exposure. The advisory pushes clinicians and health departments to keep using CDC and ACIP guidance for risk assessment and treatment, because the difference between a true exposure and an unnecessary course of vaccine can be expensive, confusing and easy to get wrong.
The CDC said there is currently no shortage of human rabies vaccine or human rabies immunoglobulin in the United States, even as use has climbed. Weekly pharmacy data showed that, as of September 2, 2026, utilization of the two licensed vaccines rose an estimated 33% and the two licensed immunoglobulins rose 76% from the same period last year.
What the warning does not name is the full map of where the increase is coming from. The CDC said the exposures involved known rabies vectors and animals in which rabies is less commonly reported, but it did not identify every jurisdiction in the advisory. For now, the message to clinicians is direct: assess carefully, give PEP correctly when it is needed, and avoid the errors that can follow a rushed response to a possible exposure.
