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If 10% of people aren't vaccinating their dogs for rabies that's WAY too many, and it's a big problem. Going to good ol' Wikipedia[0], "in countries where dogs

If 10% of people aren't vaccinating their dogs for rabies that's WAY too many, and it's a big problem. Going to good ol' Wikipedia[0], "in countries where dogs commonly have the disease, more than 99% of rabies cases in humans are the direct result of dog bite. In the Americas, bat bites are the most common source of rabies infections in humans, and less than 5% of cases are from dogs." But the article is citing sources from 2011 - if TEN PERCENT of people aren't getting their dogs their rabies shots, that number is going to increase. [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabies https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabies

timr 1y ago
> If 10% of people aren't vaccinating their dogs for rabies that's WAY too many, and it's a big problem. First of all, it's an internet survey of 2200 people. The data is garbage and you can't conclude anything from it. Huge error bars. I didn't lean on that point above, but it's fundamentally true. Second, even assuming that the number is correct, who says it's a "big problem"? Rabies is not like the flu -- it requires direct, intimate contact for transmission. If the pets in question (like most pets) never meet a wild animal in their lives, the chances are high that it won't matter at all. Your main worry is dogs catching it from other dogs…but at a 90% vaccination rates and a rare event profile to begin with, that’s incredibly unlikely. I grant you that it would be better to have 100% vaccination rates, but I doubt we’ve ever actually had that. Badness is relative.
- water-data-dude 1y ago
  Rabies is something it's hard for me to be highly rational about. It's 100% fatal after symptoms appear‡, and it's just an absolute horror show of a disease. Most states require you to vaccinate your pets, which is HOW the US became a place where less than 5% of rabies cases come from dogs. You're right though, I don't know the exact threshold of unvaccinated pets where it really becomes a problem. And I also don't know how representative that survey is (I will admit I was waking up and didn't notice the source was an internet survey with a small sample size). ‡ I know, I know, they can put you in a coma and do some dramatic medical stuff and you might survive - but it's very expensive, of debatable efficacy, and even if it works you'll still probably have brain damage

timr 1y ago

> If 10% of people aren't vaccinating their dogs for rabies that's WAY too many, and it's a big problem. First of all, it's an internet survey of 2200 people. The data is garbage and you can't conclude anything from it. Huge error bars. I didn't lean on that point above, but it's fundamentally true. Second, even assuming that the number is correct, who says it's a "big problem"? Rabies is not like the flu -- it requires direct, intimate contact for transmission. If the pets in question (like most pets) never meet a wild animal in their lives, the chances are high that it won't matter at all. Your main worry is dogs catching it from other dogs…but at a 90% vaccination rates and a rare event profile to begin with, that’s incredibly unlikely. I grant you that it would be better to have 100% vaccination rates, but I doubt we’ve ever actually had that. Badness is relative.

water-data-dude 1y ago
Rabies is something it's hard for me to be highly rational about. It's 100% fatal after symptoms appear‡, and it's just an absolute horror show of a disease. Most states require you to vaccinate your pets, which is HOW the US became a place where less than 5% of rabies cases come from dogs. You're right though, I don't know the exact threshold of unvaccinated pets where it really becomes a problem. And I also don't know how representative that survey is (I will admit I was waking up and didn't notice the source was an internet survey with a small sample size). ‡ I know, I know, they can put you in a coma and do some dramatic medical stuff and you might survive - but it's very expensive, of debatable efficacy, and even if it works you'll still probably have brain damage