brain, spinal cord, and nerve disorders
Rabies
Causes of Rabies
The rabies virus is present in many species of wild and domestic animals throughout most of the world. Animals with rabies may be sick for several weeks before they die. During that time, they often spread the disease. The rabies virus, which is present in the saliva of a rabid animal, is transmitted when the animal bites or, very rarely, licks another animal or a person. The virus cannot pass through intact skin. It can enter the body only through a puncture or another break in the skin or through the nose or mouth when many airborne droplets containing the virus are inhaled (as can occur in a cave that contains infected bats). Many different mammals—such as dogs, cats, bats, raccoons, skunks, and foxes—can transmit rabies to people. In the United States, vaccination has largely eliminated rabies in dogs, and the source of rabies is almost always wild animals, usually bats but also foxes, skunks, or racoons. In many cases, thebatbites are unnoticed. Most deaths due to rabies result from being bitten by an infectedbat. In countries where dogs are not routinely vaccinated against rabies (including most countries in Latin America, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East), most deaths due to rabies result from being bitten by an infected dog. A few cases result from being bitten by other animals including monkeys, which are sometimes kept as pets. Rabies rarely affects rodents (such as hamsters, guinea pigs, gerbils, squirrels, chipmunks, rats, and mice), rabbits, or hares. In the United States, these animals have not been known to cause rabies among people. Rabies does not affect birds and reptiles. In the United States, people who are bitten by rabbits and most small rodents—such as hamsters, gerbils, squirrels, rats, and mice—almost never need a rabies vaccination. Bats are responsible for most of the few deaths due to rabies in the United States. 