The disease is endemic in all continents except Australia and Antartica. However a small number of continental countries, such as the Scandinavian countries, and many island nations such as the UK and New Zealand, are free from the disease. Cause Rabies is caused by a Lyssavirus of the family Rhabdoviridae. It is a fragile virus outside its hosts, thus spread is effected only by direct exposure to and usually inoculation by, infected animals. There is only one serotype of rabies virus.
Host species The virus can infect all mammals.
However not all mammals are equally susceptible to infection. Wild carnivores play an important part in maintaining the disease. For instance infection in foxes has been of considerable concern in aggravating incidence in domestic carnivores in Europe over the last few decades. Thus it is carnivores that are the principal animals involved in spread of the disease. The paralytic form occurs later in the course of disease, just prior to death.