# Eating rabid meat

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-rabid-meat/369713>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 22, 2006, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-rabid-meat/369713 "2006-08-22T06:30:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\
**Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-rabid-meat/369713/1 "2006-08-22T06:30:16Z")

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So what happens if a few days before you hunted down and shot Bambi he was bitten by a rabid (wolf, fox, Hillary, etc.) and survived the initial attack. Would you get rabies by eating it’s meat?

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**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\
**Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-rabid-meat/369713/2 "2006-08-22T06:38:04Z")

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[QUOTE=Krusty the Klown]  
I want to clear up a misconception about the Wha-Cha-Ma-Carcass Sandwich. I used non-diseased meat from diseased animals! Everyone does it!  
[/QUOTE]

Not sure about transmission through consumption, but people can also get it through organ transmission.

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**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\
**Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-rabid-meat/369713/3 "2006-08-22T08:36:26Z")

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[QUOTE=pkbites]  
So what happens if a few days before  
[/QUOTE]  
The incubation period for rabies is from 2 weeks to 6 months. So if your “few days” was less than 14, you would probably be OK.

Of course, if you choose to take your meat from the limb that has the unhealed bite wound and eat it, you will be at risk, even though the rabies hasn’t yet spread thru the nerve cells to the brain.

Also, the rabies virus is destroyed by heat. So if you cooked the meat thoroughly, that should also make it safe.