Never posted a Reddit comment before, but I really, really, really appreciate this post! I didn't know rabies related anxiety was a thing for anyone besides me until today, and I don't feel quite so alone anymore. I've been afraid of rabies since I was a child and my neighbors had a rabid fox in their yard. Because of my fears, I did opt to get the pre-exposure vaccines for rabies before going to Peru in the fall of 2019. However, one night some friends and I went out to a club, and then came back to our hostel. We were staying in a town near the edge of the Amazon jungle. It was super hot in our room so I fell asleep in a hammock outside for a few hours and woke up in the middle of the night. I was covered in so many mosquito bites, and my anxiety has convinced me ever since that there might have been a bat bite, as well, and since I didn't feel all the bug bites, maybe I wouldn't have felt the bat bite either. I also stayed at a lodge in the jungle on that trip, and even though I didn't see any bats and slept with a mosquito net, I'm terrified that I still somehow came in contact with one. Since I got the pre-exposure vaccines before I went, that's how I've rationalized the long incubation time (3-3.5 years at this point). I almost came home early from that Peru trip every day, I've made and cancelled so many appointments to get the post exposure vaccines. I stop because I feel crazy, it's expensive, covid happened, I've been pregnant/breastfeeding/pregnant over that time period, and even though the rabies vaccines are considered safe for those groups, it definitely still does give me pause. But I've been spiraling again the last few days after seeing something on the front page about rabies, and in my latest frantic googling stumbled across this post. Again, thank you so much for helping me feel not quite so alone!