What is rabies?

Rabies is a disease caused by a virus that can affect the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) of any kind of mammal, including humans.

Animals that are infected with rabies - rabid animals - can spread the disease through their saliva or brain matter. People who get rabies are almost always exposed from a bite from a rabid animal. Because of widespread animal vaccination programs, people in the United States rarely get rabies: it is more common in developing nations.

What causes rabies?

Rabies is caused by a virus that is usually spread through contact with an infected animal's saliva. In the United States, the rabies virus is found almost exclusively in wildlife. Bats, raccoons, skunks, foxes, and coyotes are the most common hosts of rabies. Small mammals such as mice or squirrels almost never have rabies. And there is no known case that they have spread it to humans. Larger rodents, such as woodchucks, are more likely to be rabid. The animals most likely to be infected with the rabies virus vary by region, although bats are becoming a main source of infection among humans in many areas of the U.S. and Canada.¹

People in Asia, Latin America, Africa and many other countries are most likely to get rabies from dog bites.^{2, 3}

Report all animal bites, especially those from wildlife, to your local health department. They can tell you which species pose a threat for rabies in your area. This will help determine the need for preventive treatment.

Occasionally, the rabies virus can spread to pets, such as dogs, cats, and domestic ferrets. However, household pets rarely get rabies, due to successful vaccination programs. A pet that always stays indoors is highly unlikely to be exposed to the virus.

In extremely rare situations, a person can get rabies without being bitten by a rabid animal (nonbite exposure). Humans have acquired rabies by handling a rabid animal or by inhaling airborne virus in places where it exists in high quantities, such as caves filled with bats.

What are the symptoms?

Signs of rabies in animals may include having excessive saliva or sometimes foaming at the mouth, paralysis, or behavioral changes in your pet (such as shyness when the pet was friendly) or no fear of humans in a wild animal.

Rabies infection in humans begins with symptoms such as fever, cough, or sore throat followed in several days by more serious and rapidly progressing symptoms such as restlessness, hallucinations, and seizures. The final stage is coma and death.

The incubation period-the time from exposure to the rabies virus until symptoms appear-is usually 4 to 6 weeks. In rare cases, the incubation period can last from several days to more than a year after exposure to the virus.