What Animals Usually Get Infected With Rabies?
Rabies can affect wildlife such as raccoons, skunks, and bats, as well as household pets such as dogs and cats. Vaccination of pets and livestock is the most effective control measure to prevent the disease in these animals and subsequent human exposure. In fact, in the United States, such programs have largely eliminated canine (dog) rabies. In 1998, wild animals accounted for 93 percent of the 7,962 reported animal rabies cases in the United States and Puerto Rico. Rabies in raccoons accounted for 44 percent of cases, skunk rabies for 28.5 percent, bat rabies for 12.5 percent, and fox rabies for 5.5 percent of the cases. Only rarely, rabies is found in rabbits, squirrels, rats, and opossums.
Health officials are particularly concerned about rabies in raccoons because raccoons are often in close contact with household pets, especially dogs and cats. Increasingly, bats are being shown to be important transmitters of rabies to humans.