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. 

Each year, 1.4 million Americans are checked for possible exposure to the rabies virus, and 100,000 receive a series of vaccine injections to prevent them from becoming ill, according to the CDC.

In Indiana last month, a Greenwood woman was likely bitten by a bat that flew into her apartment from a hole in her ceiling. The day after she noticed tiny marks on her arm, she discovered the bat, alive, hanging from her air conditioning vent. She contacted the Johnson County Health Department, which urged her to receive rabies post-exposure prophylaxis. She got the treatment immediately and survived.

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.

The number of human deaths over the last year is concerning, experts say. In comparison, from 2015 to 2024, 17 cases of human rabies were reported, two of which were contracted outside the U.S., according to the CDC.

People are most often exposed to the rabies virus through an infected wild animal. Saliva from the animal can enter the mouth, eyes or a wound, which is why bites are so dangerous. Prior to the 1960s, most cases in humans were from infected pets, usually a dog. Thanks to strict pet vaccination laws, the canine strain of rabies has been eliminated from the U.S.