Rabies Virus Biological Agent Reference Sheet (BARS) for Researchers

Updated September 20, 2026

Summary

Agent Characteristics

Risk Group: RG-2. Rabies virus can cause severe and nearly always fatal disease once clinical symptoms develop. Effective pre-exposure and post-exposure preventive measures are available.

Agent Type: Virus

Description: Rabies is an acute, progressive encephalitis caused by rabies virus (RABV), a negative-sense RNA virus in the genus Lyssavirus, family Rhabdoviridae. Rabies virus is typically transmitted through the saliva of an infected mammal, most commonly through a bite. Infection may also occur when infectious saliva, nervous-system tissue, or other infectious material contacts mucous membranes, broken skin, or is introduced percutaneously. Once clinical signs of rabies develop, disease is nearly always fatal.

Host Range: Mammals, including humans

Important Infectious Materials: Central nervous system tissue, salivary glands, saliva, lacrimal secretions, and other innervated tissues from infected animals

Routes of Exposure to Humans: Bites; accidental percutaneous inoculation or needlestick; contamination of broken skin; mucous-membrane exposure; and exposure to high concentrations of infectious aerosols under some laboratory conditions. Infectious aerosols have not been demonstrated as a hazard during routine handling of clinical materials or diagnostic specimens.

Infectious Dose: Unknown

Incubation Period: Usually weeks to months, but may range from days to years depending on factors including the exposure site, severity of exposure, virus characteristics, and host immunity.

Health Hazards

Signs and symptoms of rabies may include:

• Early flu-like symptoms, including fever, headache, weakness, or general discomfort
• Pain, tingling, itching, or abnormal sensation at or near the exposure site
• Anxiety, agitation, confusion, abnormal behavior, or other signs of encephalitis
• Difficulty swallowing, hydrophobia, excessive salivation, or autonomic dysfunction
• Ataxia, weakness, paralysis, seizures, or other progressive neurologic abnormalities

Immunizations: Rabies pre-exposure vaccination is required for personnel working with live rabies virus, rabies-infected animals, or diagnostic specimens with significant potential to contain rabies virus, unless otherwise determined through the approved risk assessment.

Post-Exposure Prophylaxis: Available. Potential rabies exposures require prompt medical and public-health evaluation. Post-exposure management depends on the nature of the exposure and prior rabies vaccination status.

Formal medical advice is obtained during consultation with Cornell Health, an appropriate healthcare provider, and/or public-health authorities as applicable.

Agent Viability and Decontamination

For additional guidance, see disinfectant selection.

Laboratory Hazards

• Aerosol- or droplet-generating activities, including centrifugation, sonication, vortexing, homogenization, high-pressure systems, and opening pressurized or disrupted containers
• Handling sharps, including needles, scalpels, microtome blades, broken glass, and instruments used with infectious tissues
• Accidental inoculation, cuts, or punctures with contaminated equipment
• Splashes to the eyes, nose, or mouth
• Contact of infectious material with broken or damaged skin
• Bites or scratches from infected or potentially infected animals
• Contamination of equipment or work surfaces

Laboratory-Acquired Infection (LAI) History: Laboratory-acquired rabies is extremely rare. Two documented cases have been attributed to presumed exposure to high concentrations of infectious aerosols. Rabies-infected animals, tissues, secretions, and experimentally concentrated virus remain important occupational hazards.

Laboratory Handling Guidelines

Laboratory Biosafety Level (BSL): Cornell designates routine work with known or potentially infectious rabies virus materials as BSL-2 enhanced. This is an institutional risk-management designation rather than a separate BMBL biosafety level.

BSL-2 practices, containment equipment, and facilities are the minimum starting point. Additional primary containment, work practices, personal protective equipment, and other precautions comparable to those used at BSL-3 may be required for procedures with a high potential to generate infectious aerosols or droplets, work with high concentrations or large volumes of virus, or other procedures identified through risk assessment.

Waste Management: Regulated Medical Waste (RMW), managed in accordance with the approved protocol and Cornell waste-management requirements.

Shipping Guidance: Refer to EHS Biological Materials Shipping. Importation, interstate movement, or export of rabies virus, infected animals, tissues, or related biological materials may require additional federal permits.

Animal Vivarium Guidance

Animal Housing Biosafety Level (ABSL): ABSL-2 unless otherwise approved through documented risk assessment.

Animal Biosecurity: Experimentally infected animals must be housed and managed in accordance with the approved IACUC/IBC protocol, animal-biosafety risk assessment, and facility procedures.

Perform Inoculations: Use a biosafety cabinet or other approved primary-containment device whenever feasible.

Cage Changes and Procedures: Conduct procedures with a potential for exposure to infectious material in a biosafety cabinet or other approved containment device.

Recombinant Rabies Viral Vectors

Recombinant rabies viral vectors are commonly used for neuronal labeling, tracing, and targeted gene expression. Risk varies substantially with the vector design, rabies strain or backbone, deleted viral genes, pseudotype, transgene, concentration, production system, potential for complementation, target cells, and animal model.

A commonly used approach deletes the rabies glycoprotein gene (G) from the viral genome. These ΔG vectors can infect susceptible cells as packaged virions but ordinarily cannot generate infectious progeny unless functional rabies glycoprotein is supplied in trans. Production systems that provide glycoprotein in trans therefore require particular attention to complementation and the potential generation of particles with altered biological properties.

ΔG rabies vectors may also be pseudotyped, including with EnvA, to alter cellular tropism. EnvA pseudotyping can restrict efficient entry to cells expressing the corresponding TVA receptor; however, pseudotyping does not by itself make the viral preparation noninfectious or eliminate the need for a protocol-specific risk assessment.

Biosafety Level: BSL-2 unless a protocol-specific risk assessment supports other containment.

Animal Biosafety Level: ABSL-2 is the default for animal work involving recombinant rabies viral vectors. Reduction to ABSL-1 may occur only following a documented Biosafety/IBC risk assessment and approval based on the specific vector system and experimental design.

Laboratory Hazards/Potential Routes of Exposure: Accidental injection or inoculation, mucous-membrane exposure, contact with damaged skin, and exposure to aerosols or droplets generated during manipulation of concentrated vector preparations. Sharps use and procedures capable of generating aerosols require particular attention.

Risk-Assessment Considerations: Vector backbone, replication competence, deleted genes, pseudotype, production and complementation system, transgene function, vector concentration, target-cell susceptibility, animal species, route of administration, and the potential for generation of replication-competent or altered particles.

Immunization: Consultation is available to determine whether rabies vaccination or other medical-surveillance measures are appropriate for personnel working with recombinant rabies viral vectors. Requirements are determined through the approved risk assessment.

Field Research Guidance

When conducting field work involving wild or feral mammals with potential rabies risk, including bats, raccoons, skunks, foxes, coyotes, cats, and dogs:

• Bare-handed contact with potentially rabies-susceptible wild or feral mammals is prohibited; wear disposable gloves appropriate to the activity
• Consider cut-resistant or puncture-resistant gloves underneath disposable gloves when bites, scratches, sharp claws, teeth, bone fragments, or instruments present a risk
• Wash hands after handling animals and after removing gloves
• Wear eye or face protection when procedures could expose the eyes, nose, or mouth to saliva, droplets, tissues, or other potentially infectious material
• Use handling, restraint, capture, and release methods specified in the approved field protocol and animal-use protocol
• Do not attempt to capture or handle an animal solely for rabies testing unless the activity is within an approved protocol and personnel are trained and equipped to do so
• Maintain an appropriate first-aid kit and an established plan for obtaining medical evaluation and public-health consultation after a potential exposure
• Train all personnel on rabies hazards, exposure recognition, immediate first aid, reporting, and post-exposure procedures before field work begins

For more information about field research safety, see ACUP 718.03.

Exposure Procedures

Potential Rabies Exposure: Bites, scratches contaminated with saliva or infectious material, accidental inoculation, or contact of potentially infectious saliva, nervous-system tissue, or viral material with mucous membranes or broken skin require immediate response and prompt medical evaluation.

Mucous Membranes: Immediately flush the eyes, nose, or mouth with water for approximately 15 minutes. See responding to exposures.

Bites, Scratches, Needlesticks, and Other Percutaneous Exposures:

• Immediately and thoroughly wash the affected area with soap and water for approximately 15 minutes
• If available and appropriate for the injury, irrigate or treat the wound with a virucidal antiseptic such as povidone-iodine
• Seek medical evaluation promptly for assessment of rabies post-exposure prophylaxis and other wound care
• Contact the appropriate public-health authority when the exposure involves a potentially rabid animal

Do not delay medical evaluation while waiting for animal testing. Decisions regarding animal capture, quarantine, euthanasia, or rabies testing should be coordinated with the appropriate animal-health or public-health authority. For incidents occurring in Tompkins County, see Tompkins County rabies information.

Small Laboratory Spills: Notify others in the area and restrict access as needed. Wear appropriate PPE. Cover the spill with absorbent material and apply an approved disinfectant from the perimeter toward the center. Maintain the surface visibly wet for the required contact time. A freshly prepared approximately 1:10 dilution of household bleach may be used for significant infectious-material spills when compatible with the surface. Remove material after the contact time, clean the surface, and dispose of contaminated cleanup materials as biohazardous waste. For spills inside a biosafety cabinet, keep the cabinet operating during cleanup. See spill cleanup.

Spills with Significant Aerosol Potential or Large Spills: Stop work, warn others, restrict access, and follow the laboratory emergency and biological-spill procedure. Request assistance from EHS when the spill cannot be safely managed by trained laboratory personnel. For emergencies, call 911 from a campus phone or 607-255-1111 from a mobile phone.

Incident Reporting: Immediately report the incident to the supervisor and complete the EHS online injury/illness report as soon as possible. Potential exposures involving animals suspected of having rabies must also be reported to the appropriate public-health authority.

Medical Follow-Up:

• For students, seek prompt medical attention at Cornell Health or another appropriate healthcare provider. Call Cornell Health at 607-255-5155 or seek urgent medical care as appropriate.
• For faculty and staff, seek prompt medical evaluation with a local primary care provider, urgent care, or emergency department as appropriate. Cornell Health does not provide employee post-exposure medical care.
• Emergencies: Call 911 from a campus phone or 607-255-1111 from a mobile phone.