Published Nov 3, 2026 8:07 AM EST Of all the deadly diseases that can spread from mammals to humans, rabies is the most infamous. Cujo had it. Old Yeller had it. A squirrel in “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” had it. Unfortunately, this virus doesn’t only live in fiction. It kills at least 59,000 people a year and is present in over 150 countries. On that list is the U.S., which is seeing a nationwide surge in reported cases of human exposures to rabid or possibly rabid animals.