Although distemper and rabies are both viral in nature, the two diseases have differences. Among them are their transmission between animals and people, how they affect an animal and the animals that can contract them.
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Considerations
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Distemper occurs in the form of canine and feline varieties but it cannot go from an animal to a human. Rabies is capable of infecting a person--the bite of an infected animal is the usual method of transmission.
Transmission
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When an animal contracts distemper it usually breathes in the organisms that precipitate the illness. Rabies goes from creature to creature through saliva, with bites or contact with an open sore or mucous membrane the normal pathway.
Effects
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Rabies is practically always fatal in animals and people when left untreated. Distemper, although capable of killing an animal, is not an automatic death sentence, as animals can recover from it.
Significance
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Rabies attacks an animal's central nervous system, eventually resulting in death from paralysis, as the creature can no longer breathe. Distemper is more of a threat to the respiratory and gastrointestinal systems of the animal.
Potential
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Any warm-blooded mammal may contract rabies. Distemper is limited to members of the dog, cat and weasel families as well as raccoons.
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