Rabies is a human disease contracted after being bitten by an animal that has the rabies virus. Rabies has been seen for over 4,000 and is still deadly to humans who do not receive treatment when infected. Rabies today can be prevented, but you must be able to recognize the exposure to the virus and get the right medical care before any symptoms of the rabies start to develop.
Only 27 cases of human rabies have been found in the United States since 1990; it is quite rare. It is more common is areas like Africa, Asia and Latin America. Rabies found in wildlife is 85% greater than what is found in the United States. The new advances today in controlling the disease in animals have been the reason for the decline of human rabies. Even though human rabies is rare, between 16,000 and 39,000 people get preventive care every year about being exposed to a potential rabid animal.
For a human to be infected with rabies, one must first come in contact with a rabid animal and secondly there has to be transmission of the infected material through a scratch or bite. Bites are the most common type of transmission of the virus. Scratches are less likely to cause infections but are still potential sources.
The saliva in a rabid animal is contaminated tissue. Other potential infectious tissue can include the nerve or brain tissue. Rabies is only transmitted when the virus get in to a bite wound, mucous membranes or open cuts on the skin. Once the virus is in the site it will spread to the brain and then throughout the major organs of the body.
The most common animal to carry rabies is a raccoon, but also commonly found in skunks, bats, foxes and coyotes.