If Your Pet Has Bitten Someone Your Family Physician Facts About Rabies Rabies is a deadly disease caused by a virus that attacks the nervous system. Prompt and appropriate treatment, after being bitten and before the disease develops, can stop the infection and prevent the disease. The rabies virus is transmitted through the saliva of rabid animals and can be transmitted to humans or other animals by getting saliva from an infected animal in a bite or open wound, the eye, or the mouth. Human cases of rabies have occurred after close exposure to a bat without an obvious sign or recollection of a bite. Not all rabid animals foam at the mouth and appear mad.
Infected animals can be very calm and tame.
Improved vaccination programs have been effective in preventing rabies in pets. Other wild animals with significant numbers of rabies cases include mongooses in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean Islands, coyotes, and groundhogs. Other wild animals can contract rabies. In recent years, cats have become the most common domestic animal infected with rabies because many cats are not vaccinated and are exposed to rabid wildlife while hunting. Rabies also occurs in dogs and cattle in significant numbers.