I have a question about rabies......?

Question

Is it possible to get rabies by sniffing the insides of an animal that already has it?

P.S. "No" I wasn't sniffing an animals insides, it's kind of a long story why I'm asking this.

Answer 1

Probably not if you are just sniffing.

Rabies is an acute viral disease that can be transmitted from wild animals to unvaccinated pets and livestock, as well as to humans. It is caused by the rabies virus, which is present in the saliva of infected animals, and is transmitted through infected secretions (usually through the bite of a rabid animal). Once infection occurs, the virus spreads to the central nervous system and causes inflammation in the brain (acute encephalitis). Rabies is almost always fatal.

Rabies transmission may occur as a result of animal bites, non-bite exposure, or human-to-human exposure. In most cases of rabies, transmission of the virus is caused by the bite of a rabid animal. Transmission of rabies cannot occur through casual contact, such as touching a person with rabies, or contact with non-infectious fluid or tissue (e.g., urine, blood, or f***s).

Rabies transmission from non-bite exposures is rare. Scratches, abrasions, open wounds, or mucous membranes contaminated with saliva or other potentially infectious material (such as brain tissue) from a rabid animal, constitute non-bite exposures. Occasionally reports of non-bite exposure are such that post-exposure prophylaxis is given.



Inhalation of aerosolized rabies virus is also a potential non-bite route of exposure, but with the exception of laboratory workers, most people are unlikely to encounter an aerosol version of the rabies virus.



Other contact, such as petting a rabid animal, or contact with the blood, urine, or f***s (e.g., guano) of a rabid animal, does not constitute an exposure and is not an indication for prophylaxis.

http://rabies.emedtv.com/rabies/rabies-t...

Answer 2

The rabies virus is not airborne, so just sniffing will not pass on the disease.  But if an animal is sniffing the disemboweled carcase of a rabid animal, there is a likelihood that the animal's nose or mouth will come in contact with diseased tissue, so it would be possible to get rabies that way.

In the developed world, you know, rabies has become very rare due to vaccination; so there will not be very many dead rabid animals lying around.