What Is the Incidence of Rabies in Animals and Humans?
No one can reliably estimate how many animals are infected with rabies at any given time. The incidence varies greatly from country to country and from one year to the next. Among humans, however, it has been estimated that there are about 15,000 new cases of rabies each year worldwide. In the United States and other developed countries, human rabies is very rare owing to programs to vaccinate pets and to control stray dogs. More than half of the few cases that do occur are among immigrants and returning travelers who were exposed to dogs in other countries.
