Without treatment, rabies is invariably fatal. All mammals, including humans, are susceptible to rabies. With prompt treatment following exposure, development of rabies infection can be prevented. Once symptoms have developed, no treatment is possible.
Death is inevitable, usually within a week of the onset of symptoms.
In the United States, rabies is relatively well-controlled, and human death from rabies is rare. In some developing nations of Asia, Africa, and Latin America, however, rabies is poorly controlled, and thousands of people die of rabies every year. Rabies is a viral disease. Because rabies virus is present in the saliva of infected animals, the most common mode of transmission of the virus is through the bite of a rabid animal. At the end of the incubation period, the virus begins to replicate and spread.