Portal:Medicine/Selected article/47, 2006

Rabies (Latin, rabies, "madness, rage, fury") is a viral zoonotic disease that causes acute encephalitis in animals. In non-vaccinated humans, rabies is almost invariably fatal after neurological symptoms have developed, but prompt post-exposure vaccination may prevent the virus from progressing.

Cats, dogs, ferrets, raccoons, skunks, foxes, wolves, coyotes, bears, bats, and horses can become rabid. Squirrels, chipmunks, other rodents (except beavers), and rabbits are very seldom infected. Rabies may also be present in a so-called "paralytic" form, rendering the victim abnormally quiet and withdrawn.

The virus is usually present in the saliva of a symptomatic rabid animal; the route of infection is nearly always by a bite, and causes the victim to be exceptionally aggressive. Transmission has occurred via an aerosol through mucous membranes; transmission in this form may have happened in people exploring caves populated by rabid bats. Transmission between humans is extremely rare, though it can happen through transplant surgery (see below for recent cases), or even more rarely through bites or kisses.(More...)