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Rabies is a rapidly progressive, acute infectious disease of the central nervous system (CNS) in humans and animals that is caused by infection with rabies virus. The infection is normally transmitted from animal vectors. Rabies has encephalitic and paralytic forms that progress to death.
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Rabies virus is a member of the family Rhabdoviridae. Two genera in this family, Lyssavirus and Vesiculovirus, contain species that cause human disease. Rabies virus is a lyssavirus that infects a broad range of animals and causes serious neurologic disease when transmitted to humans. This single-strand RNA virus has a nonsegmented, negative-sense (antisense) genome that consists of 11,932 nucleotides and encodes 5 proteins: nucleocapsid protein, phosphoprotein, matrix protein, glycoprotein, and a large polymerase protein. Rabies virus variants, which can be characterized by distinctive nucleotide sequences, are associated with specific animal reservoirs. Six other non–rabies virus species in the Lyssavirus genus have been reported to cause a clinical picture similar to rabies. Vesicular stomatitis virus, a vesiculovirus, causes vesiculation and ulceration in cattle, horses, and other animals and causes a self-limited, mild, systemic illness in humans (see “Other Rhabdoviruses,” below).
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Rabies is a zoonotic infection that occurs in a variety of mammals throughout the world except in Antarctica and on some islands. Rabies virus is usually transmitted to humans by the bite of an infected animal. Worldwide, endemic canine rabies is estimated to cause 55,000 human deaths annually. Most of these deaths occur in Asia and Africa, with rural populations and children most frequently affected. Thus, in many resource-poor and resource-limited countries, canine rabies continues to be a threat to humans. However, in Latin America, rabies control efforts in dogs have been quite successful in recent years. Endemic canine rabies has been eliminated from the United States and most other resource-rich countries. Rabies is endemic in wildlife species, and a variety of animal reservoirs have been identified in different countries. Surveillance data from 2012 identified 6162 confirmed animal cases of rabies in the United States (including Puerto Rico). Only 8% of these cases were in domestic animals, including 257 cases in cats, 84 in dogs, and 115 in cattle. In North American wildlife reservoirs, including bats, raccoons, skunks, and foxes, the infection is endemic, with involvement of one or more rabies virus variants in each reservoir species (Fig. 105-1). “Spillover” of rabies to other wildlife species and to domestic animals occurs. Bat rabies virus variants are present in every state except Hawaii and are responsible for most indigenously acquired human rabies cases in the United States. Raccoon rabies is endemic along the entire eastern coast of the United States. Skunk rabies is present in the midwestern states, with another focus in California. Rabies in foxes occurs in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Alaska.
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