Rabies has haunted literature for centuries. In To Kill a Mockingbird, the “mad dog” Tim Johnson is a metaphor for the racist poison spreading through Maycomb. Pop culture loves a rabid animal, from Cujo to Old Yeller—but the human version is even more unsettling because it’s you losing your own mind. Did you know that the rabies virus is shaped like a bullet? It literally shoots its way into your nerve cells.
Here’s a weird comfort: only one person in the United States dies from rabies each year on average, and it’s almost always someone who didn’t seek treatment. Compare that to 40,000 deaths from car accidents. You are more likely to be struck by lightning while holding a winning lottery ticket. But when it hits, it’s 99.9% fatal—making it almost as deadly as not editing your Instagram captions.
