About Rabies

Prevention

• The best way to prevent rabies is to vaccinate animals against the virus. Pets such as dogs and cats as well as farm animals can be vaccinated. Other tips to avoid rabies infections include staying away from stray or unknown animals and not letting your pets roam wild.

Transmission

• Any mammal can transmit rabies to another mammal, including humans. The virus is spread through saliva that enters a wound from being bitten. Rarely, the virus can be spread when an infected animal licks a person's eyes or mouth, allowing the virus to enter through mucous membranes.

Symptoms

• Rabies does not generally cause any symptoms until the disease has reached the point where it is untreatable and fatal. People with rabies will generally experience fever, insomnia, headaches, hallucinations, difficulty swallowing, anxiety, confusion, fear of water and excessive salivation. Symptoms get worse as the infection progresses. Again, once people begin experiencing symptoms, there is little that can be done to save them.

Treatment

• The best treatment for rabies is to immediately clean the skin affected by an animal bite and seek emergency medical attention if the animal is rabid or their status is unknown. People bitten by rabid animals receive a shot near the bite to prevent the virus from spreading and then receive a series of rabies vaccinations over the course of four weeks to help the body fight the infection.

Incidence

• In the United States, only 36 rabies cases have been reported since 1980, and the majority of those infections were from bats. Despite the small number of actual cases, tens of thousands of people each year receive treatment to prevent rabies after having been bitten by an infected or possibly infected animal.