Can Opossums Get Rabies? What the Low Risk Actually Means

July 30, 2026

Black-and-ivory linocut illustration of an opossum baring its teeth beneath weathered wooden steps in tall grass.

Yes. An opossum can be infected with rabies, but confirmed cases are genuinely rare and opossums are not considered a major rabies reservoir in the United States. Rare does not mean impossible, however, and it does not change what to do after a bite, scratch, or contact with saliva: wash the area promptly and contact a medical professional or local public health department for an exposure assessment.

Can opossums actually get rabies?

They can. In 2021 an adult female white-eared opossum in Campinas, Brazil, was found with paralytic rabies, and viral particles were detected in multiple organs. Genetic work traced the lineage to frugivorous bats rather than to another opossum. The case was published in Emerging Infectious Diseases in 2023.

The same paper cites a survey in São Paulo state that found rabies virus antibodies in five of 312 Didelphis opossums tested. Antibodies indicate exposure to the virus rather than a confirmed case of active disease, but the finding reinforces the narrow point: opossums can encounter rabies virus and should not be described as immune.

The accurate framing is not that opossums cannot get rabies. It is that documented disease is unusual, and that nobody has fully established why.

How rare is rabies in opossums?

There is no useful universal percentage. Rabies surveillance changes by year, region, species submitted for testing, and the reason an animal was tested in the first place. A percentage from one state or one study cannot describe every opossum in North America.

The practical comparison is clearer. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identifies bats, raccoons, skunks, and foxes as the principal wildlife reservoirs in the United States. Opossums are not listed among the major reservoirs. That makes an opossum a much less likely source than those species, but a bite from any wild mammal still deserves professional assessment rather than a calculation made from a search result.

Why is rabies so rare in opossums?

The explanation repeated most often is body temperature. Rabies virus replication is affected by temperature, an opossum runs cooler than many other mammals, and the animal may therefore provide a less suitable environment for the virus. It is a plausible hypothesis, not a demonstrated shield.

The idea of opossum resistance traces partly to experimental inoculation work published in 1960, in which researchers attempted to infect opossums with rabies virus and reported resistance. The authors of the 2023 Brazilian case noted that modern assumptions still rested heavily on those older experiments. Other factors may also contribute, including how opossums interact with reservoir species and whether an attacked animal survives long enough for infection to develop.

Low body temperature remains a proposed explanation rather than proof of immunity. Keeping that distinction clear prevents a biological hypothesis from becoming unsafe medical advice.

How cold is an opossum, actually?

Cooler than a person, and measurably so.

A 1969 study of thermoregulation in the Virginia opossum recorded a body temperature of 35.46°C, about 95.8°F, at a comfortable ambient temperature. A 2018 study of free-ranging opossums in the Yucatán Peninsula found a mean of 34.01°C, roughly 93.2°F. Human core temperature is commonly summarized near 37°C, or 98.6°F.

The gap is real but modest. An opossum is not cold-blooded; it is a mammal running its thermostat a few degrees lower than ours. The temperature studies establish that difference. They do not, by themselves, prove exactly how the difference affects rabies infection.

Does seeing an opossum in daylight mean it has rabies?

No. Opossums are usually nocturnal, but a healthy animal may forage during the day when food is scarce, nights are very cold, a nursing female needs more calories, or a young animal is still establishing a routine. Massachusetts wildlife officials specifically note that opossums are sometimes seen in daylight, especially when food is scarce.

Time of day alone is not a diagnosis. Keep your distance and look at the whole situation. An animal that is injured, unable to move normally, repeatedly circling, partially paralyzed, or unusually unresponsive to its surroundings needs help from animal control or a wildlife professional. Do not approach it to investigate.

Are hissing, drooling, and showing teeth signs of rabies?

Not by themselves. A frightened opossum may open its mouth, display its teeth, hiss, growl, and salivate. The performance looks alarming because it is meant to look alarming. If the threat continues, the animal may enter the involuntary state known as playing dead.

Normal defensive behavior and neurological illness can overlap in appearance, which is why a person cannot confirm rabies by watching an animal. Laboratory testing is required for diagnosis. The safe response is distance: give a cornered animal an open route away, keep children and pets inside, and call local animal control if the animal appears injured or neurologically impaired.

What counts as a possible rabies exposure?

A possible exposure includes a bite that breaks the skin, a scratch contaminated with saliva, or fresh saliva entering the eyes, nose, mouth, or an open wound. These situations should be evaluated by a clinician or public health professional.

Simply seeing an opossum, being near one, touching intact skin, or finding urine or feces is not the same kind of exposure. Contact between saliva and intact skin is also not generally classified as an exposure. If the details are uncertain, especially when a child or someone unable to describe the contact was involved, let a health department make the assessment.

What should you do after an opossum bite or scratch?

Wash immediately. Flush and wash the wound thoroughly with soap and running water for 15 minutes.
Seek medical advice promptly. Contact a healthcare professional or local health department even if the wound looks minor and even though rabies in opossums is rare.
Report the incident if instructed. Public health or animal control professionals can decide whether the animal should be located and tested. Do not try to capture it yourself.
Follow the exposure assessment. A professional will consider the species, local rabies activity, type of contact, vaccination history, and whether the animal is available for testing before recommending post-exposure prophylaxis.

For someone not previously vaccinated, CDC post-exposure prophylaxis generally includes wound care, human rabies immune globulin, and a series of rabies vaccine doses. Whether it is needed in a particular opossum encounter is a medical and public health decision, not something the rarity statistic can answer on its own.

What if a dog or cat fought with an opossum?

Separate the animals without putting your hands between them, confine your pet safely, and contact a veterinarian. Tell the veterinarian whether the pet's rabies vaccination is current and whether any bite or saliva contact was observed. Local animal control may also need to be involved.

Do not handle an injured or dead opossum bare-handed. A veterinarian can advise on wound care, booster vaccination, observation, and local reporting requirements, which vary by jurisdiction. Keeping dogs and cats vaccinated is the reliable protection regardless of which wild mammal enters the yard.

Frequently asked questions

Are opossums immune to rabies?

No. Confirmed natural infection has been documented. Rabies appears to be uncommon in opossums, but “rare” and “immune” are not interchangeable.

Do you automatically need rabies shots after an opossum bite?

Not automatically, and not automatically not. Wash the wound and contact a clinician or health department promptly. They decide whether post-exposure prophylaxis is appropriate for the specific incident.

What percentage of opossums have rabies?

There is no single national percentage that can be responsibly applied to every encounter. Testing is selective and regional, and opossums are not a principal US rabies reservoir. Use local public health guidance rather than a generalized number.

What other diseases can opossums carry?

Like other wildlife, opossums can carry bacteria, parasites, and pathogens unrelated to rabies. A long disease list is less useful than the same basic precautions: do not handle or feed wild animals, keep pets vaccinated and supervised, secure food attractants, and ask a veterinarian or doctor about an actual exposure.

From the archive

This exact footnote is already stitched into Rabies Opossum Nocturne and stated even more plainly by I Have Rabies: Opossum. The threat display gets its own field note in Opossum Playing Dead, and what an opossum eats instead of ticks is covered in What Do Opossums Eat? The rest of the file is kept in Opossum Shirts.