What is Rabies?

Rabies is a viral disease that affects the central nervous system of warm-blooded animals, including humans. The disease has a long incubation period (six months) and symptoms may take several weeks to appear after infection. However, once symptoms appear, rabies is always fatal in animals.

The rabies virus is a lyssavirus, a group of viruses responsible for causing encephalitis that also includes several recently identifi ed bat lyssaviruses. Lyssaviruses belong to the family Rhabdoviridae. The name Rhabdo comes from the Greek and identifi es the characteristic bullet or rod-shape of the viruses. There are several strains of the classic rabies virus that are each generally confi ned to a major species as reservoir.

Rabies has been recognized for centuries. It wasn’t until the 1880’s when work done by Louis Pasteur identifi ed a virus as the cause of the disease.

Rabies is a disease listed in the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) Terrestrial Animal Health Code and must be reported to the OIE (OIE Terrestrial Animal Health Code).

Source: The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE)