Substantial under-detection of human rabies cases in the United States.

Based on multiple instances of human-to-human rabies transmission via organ or tissue transplantation from initially undiagnosed rabies-infected donors, we estimate 856 (213-2220) human rabies deaths in the United States (US) from 2000 to 2024, meaning that only around 7% of human rabies deaths in the US were confirmed during this period.