Rare Human Fatality From Rabies Reported

The Minnesota Department of Health today announced it is investigating a human rabies death in a person who had exposure to a bat in western Minnesota in July 2024. This is Minnesota’s fourth case of human rabies since 2000.

This new rabies case is an essential reminder that bats can spread the virus and that the public should avoid contact with them. Bats with rabies are found in all U.S. states except Hawaii.

Recently, a resident of Brantford-Brant, Ontario, Canada, was also confirmed with bat-bite transmitted rabies.

And in Texas, numerous bats have been confirmed with rabies in 2024.

Globally, rabies continues to claim about 59,000 lives annually, with Africa shouldering over 60% of these fatalities. Dogs, not bats, cause most rabies infections worldwide.

According to the U.S. CDC, rabies treatment (vaccines) has proven to be nearly 100% effective at preventing the disease after exposure, but it must be started before symptoms of rabies appear.

Left untreated, rabies is almost always fatal.

The CDC establishes recommendations for international travelers by evaluating the risk of rabies exposure and access to high-quality postexposure prophylaxis (PEP, including rabies immunoglobulin and vaccine) in each destination country.

Bavarian Nordic's RabAvert® vaccine is offered at many travel vaccine clinics and pharmacies in 2024.