>>>> I dont see how poop could be communicable unless it was fresh, still body >>>> temperature, and entered your body thru an open sore or you injested it.
Excuse the graphic nature of my answer, but rabies isn't even shed through feces, blood or urine. So even if you rubbed an open cut against a bleeding cut of a rabid animal, or if you reached inside a horse to clean a rabid animal out, say for a pelvic exam, you shouldn't be at risk. Vets still wear rubber gloves for other reasons, but rabies is actually not transmitted that way at all. It's only shed through saliva, brain fluid, or spinal fluid. Odd, but much tested apparently. >>>> when i later learned he had died of rabies and freaked i called the vet >>>> and health officials and they assured me that even one degree drop in body >>>> temp the rabies virus dies. Yep. The way the state endicrinologist explained it to us...if we got a smear of drool from a rabid horse on our hand, by the time we could rub it on another horse, it would most likely be dead. I wouldn't want to push that theory, especially on a 100-degree day, but after a few seconds on a normal-temp day, the other horse would certainly be safe...unless you had a cut where the horse drooled and then you'd be in trouble. Karen Thomas, NC
