Educational materials are also available for groups or individuals. Rabies is a viral infection that affects the nervous system of mammals. It is usually transmitted by an infected animal's bite. The incubation period, the period between exposure to the disease and onset of symptoms, ranges from two weeks to several months. Rabies is almost always fatal once symptoms occur.
Prompt vaccination following a bite can prevent rabies in humans.
Unvaccinated dogs, cats and livestock also may get rabies. Rabbits, squirrels, opossums, rats, mice, guinea pigs, gerbils, hamsters, chipmunks and muskrats almost never get rabies. Birds, fish, snakes, turtles, lizards and insects do not get rabies. Two quite different forms of rabies are possible. In the furious form, the animal is excited, aggressive, irritable, and may snap at anything in its path.