Could a drop of bat saliva in my eye transmit rabies? Should I worry?

Hi, this is Dr. Johnson. Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. I see you are from France, I am in the US. I urge you to contact your Public health department, Doctor or a hospital ASAP if this isn't a hypothetical question. Rabies is life threatening if you contract it. Rabies is a virus that is transmitted from the saliva of an infected dog. In order for the dog to transmit the virus it needs to be in the salivary glands. Once in the salivary glands the animal will usually show signs of rabies with in 10 days. The dog should be quarantined as outlined by your country's laws. But yes, if saliva from a dog with the transmissible stage of rabies, is immediately placed in your mouth or eye you could get rabies. It is transmitted through breaks in the skin and muco-cutaneous surfaces. I urge you to seek medical attention.

That is a bit scary for you, I imagine. The chance that this bat has rabies depends on the prevalence of rabies in your area. I suspect that if you saw no blood or puncture wounds, Riley should be fine. I don't think there is a high chance, but please keep in mind I can't say for certain. I can say getting her vaccine again was good.

Small rodents and squirrels are almost never found to have rabies, so I wouldn’t be too worried. However, it would be a good idea in general to make sure Bobby is kept up to date on his rabies vaccine so he’s protected if he has any future encounters with wildlife!

Rabies can be transmitted through contact with saliva, so if your dog contracted the virus and was symptomatic there is a small possibility you could get rabies from contact with saliva. If you have reason to think Sunday might be showing signs of rabies you should contact your physician and veterinarian right away.

Usually from the wound the virus travels through the nerves to the central nervous system and salivary glands as well (from where it can then spread and be transmitted). Unless the tongue was injured (so the virus could have travelled to nerves through blood stream), there are basically no chances that infection occurred. Rabies do not resist in the environment for long (max 24 hours usually) time as well.

Fortunately, rabies in dogs is very rare in the U.S. and hopefully this dog has been vaccinated at-least once already. Knowing his vaccine status will make a big difference for knowing whether rabies is a concern or not. If he happens to have a rabies, or city registration tag on the collar, then this indicates that he would have been vaccinated before. If he is neutered, then this would also be a good indication that he has been vaccinated before. One thing you can do in order to find out his vaccine status is to take him to a local shelter and have him scanned for a microchip. They can also help locate the owner and find out more information about the dog. Rabies usually requires a break in the skin to be transmitted. It is also less likely that Buddy has rabies if he's not showing any signs (the vet at the shelter can check for any signs). Overall, it seems very unlikely that this dog has rabies, or that your sister would be infected. For more information and understanding the risk of rabies, I recommend you read the information at the link below. https://www.cdc.gov/rabies/index.html I hope that helps and all is well with your sister and the dog.

While rabies can be transmitted through saliva I don't believe there has ever been a report of rabies being transmitted through sharing a water bowl. I would definitely recommend making sure Toby's rabies vaccine is up to date if there are potentially rabid animals around, but there is minimal potential for transmission.