Epidemiology is the study of the distribution and causes of disease in populations.
This report can be found in its entirety in Professional Resources . Below you will find a brief summary of the surveillance information for 1999, including maps showing the distribution of rabies in the United States. Outbreaks of rabies infections in terrestrial mammals like raccoons, skunks, foxes, and coyotes are found in broad geographic regions across the United States. Geographic boundaries of currently recognized reservoirs for rabies in terrestrial mammals are shown on the map below. Rabies cases in cats continue to be more than twice as numerous as those in dogs or cattle.