CNN —

For the first time in nearly 70 years, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is proposing a change in how dogs are imported into the United States.

Revisiting guidelines last revised in 1956, the proposed updates introduce a new set of requirements for people looking to bring in pets from countries with a high risk for rabies. The CDC says that dog rabies was eliminated in the United States in 2007, but the virus is still endemic in over 100 countries.

"The proposed updates aim to protect the public's health by preventing the reintroduction of dog rabies into the United States," CDC spokesperson David Daigle said. "These updates would establish an importation system designed to reduce fraud and improve the U.S. government's ability to verify that imported dogs have met U.S. entry requirements."

In the video player above: In 2021, the CDC issued a temporary suspension of dog imports from over 100 countries

Although rabies among humans is rare in the United States, the virus kills about 59,000 people around the world each year, most of them children bitten by dogs, according to the CDC. Exposure to infected dogs causes 99% of human rabies deaths worldwide.

After entering the body – usually via the bite of an infected animal – the virus travels through the nerves to the brain, where it multiplies and causes inflammation. By the time it reaches the brain and symptoms appear, the disease is usually fatal.

The CDC's proposed regulation creates additional safeguards to prevent rabies from arriving from overseas. For instance, dogs from rabies-free or "low-risk" countries would be allowed to enter with written documentation that the dog has lived in the low-risk setting for the past six months.

For dogs who were vaccinated in the U.S. and are returning from countries with high rabies incidence, their owners would be required to bring them to an airport with a CDC quarantine station. They would also need to have a rabies vaccination form completed and signed by a veterinarian approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The proposed updates place the most restrictions on people seeking to import dogs from high-risk countries who have also been vaccinated abroad.

In those situations, owners would need to have a valid rabies vaccination form completed by a licensed veterinarian and signed by an official government veterinarian of the exporting country. Once in the U.S., the dogs would have to be examined and revaccinated at a CDC-registered animal care facility.

The CDC has opened the guidelines to public comment online until Sept. 8.

Although the policy that the CDC hopes to update includes rules for dog and cat importation, cats are not required to have proof of rabies vaccination, and the CDC's changes don't affect cat imports.

Rabies can be a particularly expensive virus to treat. According to the guidelines, the importation of an infected dog in 2019 cost state governments over $400,000 to investigate and administer post-exposure prophylaxis treatment.

The updates come on the heels of the CDC's decision to extend its temporary suspension of dog imports from over 100 countries with a high rabies risk until July 31, 2024. The suspension began in 2021 after cases of imported dog rabies and a 52% uptick in falsified rabies vaccination certificates.

Stretched thin due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the agency opted to suspend the arrival of dogs who had traveled to one of 113 countries considered at high risk for dog rabies, including Brazil, China and India.

In addition to the more stringent vaccination verification and screening efforts, the proposed updates require that all dogs entering the U.S. be microchipped, at least 6 months old and healthy upon arrival.

However, the proposed restrictions face challenges.

In a statement Monday, the animal rights advocacy group Animal Wellness Action decried the agency's proposal as "draconian," saying the guidelines "will put Americans overseas at risk of losing their animals" and could "terribly complicate" US charities working with dogs abroad.

In 2021, a letter signed by 57 U.S. representatives also called on the CDC to lift its suspension of canine imports from high-risk countries, describing the policy as a "one-size-fits-all approach" that "prevents thousands of dogs from … being rescued and adopted."

But the CDC insists that its proposal is critical to preventing the re-emergence of rabies.

"We understand the important role pets play in our lives and that there are many health benefits to owning a pet," Daigle said. "However, the close relationships between dogs and people means there is a direct public health risk to people who interact with inadequately vaccinated dogs imported from countries with high risk for dog rabies."

A boy died and his mother was seriously injured in a dog attack in Idaho, authorities said.

According to The Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, two rottweilers and two mixed-breed dogs attacked the pair at a residence in Fort Hall on Saturday.

The victims were taken to the hospital where the boy was pronounced dead.

A GoFundMe page for the family says the mother is being treated in the intensive care unit after sustaining nerve damage and a ruptured artery in her right arm.

The Shoshone-Bannock Tribes said the dogs were euthanized. The owners were also cited for 15 violations.

An investigation is ongoing, authorities said. The case will be submitted to the U.S. Attorney for potential federal charges.

Fatal dog attacks in the U.S. are relatively rare. According to dogsbite.org, an organization that tracks attacks, 521 people were killed in incidents involving dogs between 2005 and 2019.

Video above from 2020: Hundreds of Thousands of Bats Wreak Havoc

A man in northeastern Illinois died from rabies about a month after apparently being infected by a bat he found in his room, marking the first human case of the virus in the state since 1954, health officials said Tuesday.

The man, who was in his 80s, woke up last month and found a bat on his neck in his Lake County, Illinois, home. After the bat tested positive for rabies, the man declined postexposure treatment, the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) said in a news release.

About a month after his exposure, the man started suffering from neck pain, headache, numbness in his fingers, difficulty controlling his arms and trouble speaking, health officials said.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday confirmed the man's diagnosis after testing at its lab.

Wildlife experts found a bat colony in the man's home, IDPH said.

"Rabies has the highest mortality rate of any disease," IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said in the news release. "However, there is life-saving treatment for individuals who quickly seek care after being exposed to an animal with rabies."

The rabies virus is transmitted through direct contact with an infected animal, including through the saliva or brain and nervous system tissue, according to the CDC. The rabies virus attacks the central nervous system, causing a brain disease that can lead to death without treatment, the CDC explained.

Human rabies infections are rare in the United States, with one to three cases reported each year, IDPH said. Still, an estimated 60,000 Americans receive the post-exposure vaccination series each year.

Illinois public health officials caution that even though people are usually aware when they have been bitten by a bat, they "have very small teeth and the bite mark may not be easy to see."

The state health department advises that people who come in close to a bat should not release it until it can be tested for rabies. People are also encouraged to contact their local health officials who can ascertain whether they have been exposed and what course of action is needed.

Most US rabies cases stem from bats, CDC says

A 2019 CDC report found that bats are the cause of seven out of 10 cases of rabies in the United States.

Researchers examined rabies trends in the U.S. over the span of 80 years, from 1938 to 2018. They found that most infections came from dog bites until 1960, when wildlife species — specifically bats — became the primary source for human infection. This followed nationwide efforts in the 1950s to mandate pet vaccines and implement leash control laws, the report stated.

The number of rabies deaths in the U.S. ranged from 30 to 50 per year in the 1940s but has dropped to one to three deaths per year. That's the result of routine pet vaccination and availability of post-exposure treatment.

In June, the CDC suspended the importation of dogs from more than 100 countries it deems as having a high rabies risk. The move affects dog rescue missions, imports from dog breeders and people bringing in pets, the CDC explained.

The decision was made based on a combination of factors, the CDC said, including the coronavirus pandemic, lack of facilities for quarantining dogs safely and three recent incidents of infected dogs that were brought into the country.