The virus is present in the saliva of the carrier animal and is spread when an infected animal bites another. Apparently mice, rats, gerbils, hamsters, and a few other small animals do not get nor carry the disease. Birds, fish, snakes, lizards or insects do not get rabies. A neurological disease, rabies affects the central nervous system of the host animal. Symptoms range from listlessness to extreme aggression in farm animals.
Symptoms can be very confusing causing the livestock owner to first suspect other diseases.
Unfortunately, the only accurate test for rabies is through microscopic examination of brain tissue. This is why the brains of animals suspected of having rabies are sent to state laboratories for confirmation of the disease. Usually humans are not vaccinated for rabies unless they regularly come in close contact with wild animals. The human vaccine for rabies is administered through a series of three intradermal injections. In the few known cases in which people have actually survived rabies without medical attention, permanent brain damage resulted.