Don’t let a preventable disease turn your adventure into a nightmare.
Why Rabies Prevention Should Be on Every Traveler’s Radar
It’s easy to think of rabies as something rare or irrelevant—until you find yourself face-to-face with a curious dog in a rural village, or a monkey snatches your sunglasses in a bustling temple courtyard. When rabies exposure, such as a scratch or bite from an animal happens abroad, you’re facing a race against time that can instantly derail your entire trip.
Rabies is a 100% fatal disease that poses a serious threat to travelers worldwide. While prevention is simple, the consequences of ignoring the risk can be catastrophic.
Unlike other travel-related illnesses that might affect a few days of your trip, rabies exposure creates an immediate and life-threatening medical emergency. Once symptoms appear, it’s too late – making prevention your most reliable protection.
What Is Rabies and Where Does it Occur?
Rabies is a viral infection that targets the nervous system, causing brain inflammation and, ultimately, death. The virus is most often transmitted to humans through the bite or scratch of an infected mammal, with the saliva containing the infectious agent.
Globally, rabies is estimated to cause 60,000 deaths every year. Most cases occur in Asia and Africa and India is responsible for approximately 1/3 all of rabies deaths. Use the CDC’s rabies by country index as a resource.
Animals That Transmit Rabies
Only mammals can carry rabies. The most common transmitters are:
- Dogs – responsible for up to 99% of human rabies cases worldwide.
- Bats – capable of transmitting rabies through tiny, often undetectable bites or scratches.
- Monkeys – especially macaques in tourist areas of Asia; often aggressive and drawn to food and personal belongings.
- Other wildlife – raccoons, foxes, and skunks can also be carriers in certain regions.
What Situations Constitute a Rabies Exposure?
Rabies exposure doesn’t always look dramatic—and even small or unnoticed encounters can carry serious risk. You should consider yourself potentially exposed to rabies if any of the following occur during your travels:
- You are bitten by a dog, monkey, bat, or other mammal, regardless of whether the wound appears minor.
- You are scratched by an animal’s claws, especially if the skin is broken.
- You have contact with the saliva of a mammal through broken skin (such as an open wound or abrasion).
- You are licked by an animal on mucous membranes, such as your mouth, eyes, or nose.
- You have any physical contact with a bat, even if there’s no obvious bite or scratch—bat exposures are considered high risk due to their small teeth and the possibility of unnoticed injury.
- A child has unsupervised contact with an animal, especially if they can’t clearly communicate what happened.
When in doubt, it’s safer to assume a potential exposure occurred and seek medical evaluation immediately.
Rabies and the Traveler’s Worst-Case Scenario
If you experience any of the above situations while traveling and you haven’t been vaccinated, you’re facing a medical emergency. Immediate steps are required to prevent this exposure from becoming fatal. These include the following:
- Thoroughly wash the wound with soap and water for at least 15 minutes.
- Obtain Rabies Immune Globulin (RIG). This is a blood product that provides immediate protection but is often unavailable in many parts of the world.
- Begin a series of rabies vaccine doses over several weeks. Most protocols specify 4 or 5 immunizations over several weeks.
Here’s where things get complicated: in many countries, RIG is difficult or impossible to find, particularly in rural areas or developing nations. Without access to RIG, your only option may be urgent evacuation to a facility that has it. This could mean cutting your trip short, navigating international medical logistics, and facing significant out-of-pocket expenses—not to mention the stress and uncertainty of securing timely care in a crisis.
Pre-Exposure Rabies Vaccination: Your Safety Net
The best way to prevent rabies is to be vaccinated ahead of time—before an exposure occurs. Pre-exposure vaccination (PrEP) consists of two doses, given a week apart, before travel. Being vaccinated against rabies:
- Eliminates the need for RIG after a bite.
- Simplifies post-exposure care to just two follow-up doses.
- Gives you a wider time window to access care.
- Offers peace of mind:
- to enjoy your travels without constant animal avoidance anxiety.
- knowing that an accidental animal bite is still serious, but not life threatening.
Modern Rabies Vaccine—Safe, Effective, and Life-Saving
If you’re worried about painful rabies shots, you can put those concerns to rest. Vaccination with the modern rabies vaccine is a far cry from the painful injections in the stomach from decades ago.
We administer many rabies vaccines every week and our patients tend to find a rabies shot in the arm less uncomfortable than their flu shot.
The current rabies vaccine is so effective that no deaths have been reported in travelers who received proper PrEP vaccination and then appropriate follow-up treatment after exposure.
Who Should Strongly Consider Rabies Vaccination Before Travel?
- Travelers to Asia, Africa, and parts of Latin America.
- Travelers and adventure tourists heading to remote areas, where treatment may not be available.
- Families with children, who are more likely to approach animals.
- Travelers on a cycling or hiking itinerary are more likely to encounter dogs, especially in rural areas.
- Animal-focused volunteers and workers.
- Cavers and travelers likely to encounter bats.
- Long-term missionaries serving in developing countries, walking through rural areas where stray animals are common and medical care is limited.
How Rabies Can Derail Your Trip
Rabies risk isn’t just about the disease itself—it’s about the disruption:
- Immediate itinerary change to find medical care.
- Last-minute evacuation that may involve air ambulance transport.
- Significant cost, even with insurance, if you’re far from a major medical center.
- Loss of prepaid bookings and missed experiences.
For high-value trips, taking a small preventive step before departure can mean the difference between continuing your journey or ending it in an emergency room thousands of miles from your planned destination.
Rabies in Travelers – Deadly, but Preventable
How to prevent rabies when you’re traveling:
Schedule a pre-travel consultation with a travel health expert who can tell you:
- If your destination or activities increase your risk of rabies
- Whether rabies treatment is readily available where you are traveling
- Whether you should get a preventive rabies vaccine series
If you are vaccinated:
- Avoid contact with unfamiliar animals.
- Don’t feed or provoke wildlife, especially in tourist areas where they are habituated to humans.
- Keep personal belongings and food out of sight in areas with monkeys.
- Teach children never to approach animals they don’t know.
- If bitten or scratched, wash the wound immediately and seek medical care.
Rabies – The Final Word
Rabies is preventable—but once symptoms appear, it’s too late. If you’re planning a trip to an area where rabies is present, especially in countries with limited medical infrastructure, consider pre-exposure vaccination as an essential part of your travel preparation.
Your health—and your trip—are worth it.
TravelBug Health is one of the few outpatient providers of rabies vaccine in the greater Phoenix/Scottsdale area. Book your pre-travel consultation today and travel with confidence.
FAQs
- If I’m vaccinated against rabies, do I still need treatment after a bite? Yes. You’ll still need additional vaccine doses but not RIG (Rabies Immune Globulin), and you’ll have more time to get care.
- How urgently do I need to get rabies immune globulin (RIG) after a rabies exposure? Every potential rabies exposure is considered a medical emergency and RIG should be administered as soon as it is available. Administering RIG beyond 7 days after an exposure provides no benefit and can interfere with the body’s own immune response to the rabies antigen.
- How soon should I get vaccinated before my trip? The two-dose preventive series is given over 7 days, so plan to complete it at least two weeks before departure.
- Is rabies vaccination safe for children?
Yes. Rabies vaccination is safe and recommended for children traveling to rabies-endemic regions.
