Note: Wilderness First Aid Tip: if you exchange saliva with a raccoon, no matter how cute it is, get rabies shots anyway.

"WHO: Transmission and pathogenesis

In most cases the disease is transmitted via the bite of rabid animals which shed infectious virus with their saliva. The virus enters the body through transdermal inoculation (i.e. wounds) or direct contact of infectious material (i.e. saliva, cerebrospinal liquid, nerve tissue) to mucous membranes or skin lesions. The virus can not penetrate intact skin."

https://www.who-rabies-bulletin.org/site-page/transmission-and-pathogenesis

#rabies

Missed this from a few days ago!!

NBC News: Outbreaks of rabies seem to be rising across the U.S., CDC surveillance shows

The CDC's rabies team says it's tracking 15 different likely outbreaks from New York to Oregon.

"...Aug. 31, 2025, 2:00 AM PDT
By Marina Kopf, Linda Carroll and Anne Thompson

Six deaths from rabies have been reported over the last 12 months in the U.S., the highest number in years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/rabies-outbreaks-rising-us-deaths-vaccine-rcna227771

#rabies #death #vaccines

***SIX DEATHS -- holy moly.

"...The rabies virus invades the central nervous system and is almost always fatal once symptoms start. Early symptoms, which can begin about a week or up to a year after exposure, may resemble the flu and progress quickly to confusion, paralysis, salivating, hallucinations and difficulty swallowing, followed by death within weeks...."

#rabies

Yeah, so since people may have missed what sent me on this tangent:

CBC: Kentucky nurse gives CPR to drunk baby raccoon trapped in a dumpster

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/drunk-raccoon-cpr-1.7630379

@ai6yr My partner Brian worked at a group home a few years back. One day, another employee came in from taking out the trash, shrieking in panic that there were raccoons in the dumpster. They were shouting, "Call animal control! Don't anybody go out there!" Brian was a relaxed unflappable guy, and he calmly said, "Leave them to me".

He found a large fallen tree branch, and tossed it into the dumpster, so that it slanted up towards the rim. Then he talked to them, saying stuff like, "Ok, party's over, you guys had better go while the going's good, otherwise they're going to call animal control on you. C'mon, let's move along!"

They obediantly climbed up the branch, dropped to the ground, and scurried off into the woods.

This news story reminded me of Brian's raccoon story, sort of... He never tried to give a raccoon CPR, though!