The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said rabies-related inquiries climbed 17% from July through August 2026 compared with the same period in 2025, a sharp rise that came as multiple United States jurisdictions reported more human exposures to rabid or possibly rabid animals.
The increase matters because rabies is nearly 100% fatal once symptoms start, but it can be prevented when post-exposure prophylaxis is given correctly and early. CDC said at least eight state health departments reported increased rabies post-exposure prophylaxis use, administration errors, or both during the same July-to-August period, showing that the problem is not only more exposure reports but also how treatment is being handled after the exposure.
CDC issued a Health Alert Network Health Advisory in response to those reports, saying careful rabies risk assessments and evidence-based recommendations for post-exposure prophylaxis are essential. Each year, about 1.4 million people in the United States seek medical care after animal contact and undergo evaluation, and roughly 100,000 receive rabies post-exposure prophylaxis following a potential exposure, so even a modest shift in practice can affect a large number of patients.
By Sept. 2, 2026, weekly pharmacy data showed utilization for the two rabies vaccines licensed in the United States had risen an estimated 33% from the same period last year, while use of the two rabies immunoglobulins had increased an estimated 76%. That surge has not created a shortage: CDC said there is currently no shortage of human rabies vaccine or human rabies immunoglobulin in the United States, even as demand has moved up quickly.
The friction point is not supply. It is whether exposed patients are being identified fast enough and treated without avoidable mistakes. CDC said errors in rabies risk assessment and post-exposure prophylaxis administration can lead to unnecessary treatment, potential adverse effects and avoidable costs, which makes the quality of the response as important as the number of exposures itself.
CDC did not name the states involved, and it did not identify which local outbreaks or animal encounters drove the spike. What it did make clear is that the rise is already broad enough to be showing up in inquiries, state reports and pharmacy data at the same time, leaving health officials to focus on getting the next assessment right before symptoms begin.
