Does rabies virus in dried saliva become dangerous if it gets wet?

It depends on where you live, as rabies is more common in some areas than others. It won't like cause problems. Rabies virus from infected saliva must enter through an open cut, wound, scratch, or mucous membrane. Live rabies virus will not survive for more than 24 hours in dead animals when temperatures reach 70F.

Rabies does not live on surfaces for long. It should be fine to wash and dry clothes as normal. The primary worry would be if you were bitten by one of the dogs. Please encourage her to get the up to date. There are many low cost vaccine clinics available in most areas of the US

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.

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.

If a dog has Rabies and is the INFECTIOUS stage of the disease (an animal can be infected with the Rabies virus but not able to pass it to others/not show signs for months) then death will usually occur within 10 days. This is where the 10 day observation period stems from. It is possible, however, for an animal to be carrying the virus but not YET able to transmit the virus for longer periods of time. For this reason if an unvaccinated dog is bitten by another animal such as a raccoon, a quarantine period of 6 months is usually recommended. The exact rules will depend on your local laws.

Correct - if a dog is still alive and not showing any neurologic symptoms 10 days after a bite incident, then you can be certain that it was not carrying rabies in its salivary glands at the time of the bite.

A dog must come into contact with saliva or nervous tissue (brain, spinal cord, etc) of an infected animal in order for the risk of rabies transmission to be present. Once the saliva or tissue have dried, the risk is quite minimal. Sniffing a carcass will not pose a risk. Blood, urine, feces, or muscle tissue are not infectious. As long as James remains current with vaccination, he should be fine. It is always recommended to keep him away from roadkill or dead animals anyway.