It is not spread through contact with urine, feces, or blood of an infected animal. You cannot get rabies by petting an animal. You may get rabies from a scratch if the animal, such as a cat, was licking its paw before it scratched you. In very rare cases, rabies has been spread from one person to another after a corneal transplant. The targets of the rabies virus are nerve cells.
Nerve cells are one part of the body's nervous system.
The nervous system helps direct body movements. It helps us run, walk, move, sit, and touch. It also helps us adjust to changes going on around the body, for example by sweating when it is hot. The rabies virus infects the body usually through a bite from a rabid animal. Its main target is the central nervous system, which is made up of the brain and spinal cord.