Treatment after exposure can prevent the disease if administered promptly, generally within 10 days of infection. Thoroughly washing the wound as soon as possible with soap and water for approximately five minutes is effective in reducing the number of viral particles. Povidone-iodine or alcohol is then recommended to reduce the virus further.

In the US, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends people receive one dose of human rabies immunoglobulin (HRIG) and four doses of rabies vaccine over a 14-day period. The immunoglobulin dose should not exceed 20 units per kilogram body weight. HRIG is expensive and constitutes most of the cost of post exposure treatment, ranging as high as several thousand dollars. As much as possible of this dose should be injected around the bites, with the remainder being given by deep intramuscular injection at a site distant from the vaccination site.

The first dose of rabies vaccine is given as soon as possible after exposure, with additional doses on days 3, 7 and 14 after the first. Patients who have previously received pre-exposure vaccination do not receive the immunoglobulin, only the postexposure vaccinations on days 0 and 3.

The pain and side effects of modern cell-based vaccines are similar to flu shots. The old nerve-tissue-based vaccinations that require multiple painful injections into the abdomen with a large needle are inexpensive, but are being phased out and replaced by affordable World Health Organization intradermal-vaccination regimens.

Intramuscular vaccination should be given into the deltoid, not the gluteal area, which has been associated with vaccination failure due to injection into fat rather than muscle. In infants, the lateral thigh is recommended.

Awakening to find a bat in the room, or finding a bat in the room of a previously unattended child or mentally disabled or intoxicated person, is an indication for post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP). The recommendation for the precautionary use of PEP in bat encounters where no contact is recognized has been questioned in the medical literature, based on a cost–benefit analysis. However, a 2002 study has supported the protocol of precautionary administering of PEP where a child or mentally compromised individual has been alone with a bat, especially in sleep areas, where a bite or exposure may occur without the victim being aware. Begun with little or no delay, PEP is 100% effective against rabies. In the case in which there has been a significant delay in administering PEP, the treatment should be administered regardless, as it may still be effective. Every year, more than 15 million people get vaccination after potential exposure. While this works well, the cost is significant.

In Haiti, few cases of human rabies are reported to health authorities. In 2016, a report of a woman who had been exposed to rabies three months prior and was showing symptoms went to the hospital where no treatment was administered to her. Even after being reported to both the CDC and the national Department of Epidemiology and Laboratory Research (DELR), as required by Haiti's surveillance program, the woman ended up passing away. This goes to show the lack of communication and effectiveness in caring for human subjects in Haiti, and the continued focus is on eliminating dog-mediated rabies altogether.

Human diploid cell culture rabies vaccine (HDCV) and purified chick embryo cell culture rabies vaccine (PCEC) are used to treat post-exposure immunization against a human rabies infection. Recommendations for treatment are given by governmental health care organizations and in health literature. Health care providers are encouraged to administer a regimen of four 1-mL doses of HDCV or PCEC vaccines. According to the CDC, these injections should be administered intramuscularly to persons who have not yet been vaccinated for rabies.

For those who are unvaccinated, the first of four doses is administered immediately after exposure to the rabies virus. Additional doses are given three, seven, and fourteen days after the first vaccination. Exposure usually means a bite from a rabid animal.

At an individual patient level, post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) consists of local treatment of the wound, vaccination, and administration of immunoglobulin, if necessary [3]. At the program level, several components are critical, including: adequate and prompt recognition of the need for PEP by the public, if exposed, and by health officials, prompt and sufficient availability of high-quality PEP, and adequate follow-up of PEP use. Health officials' awareness of the need for PEP after a dog bite can only be achieved if the exposure is attended to immediately and communicated effectively.

In 2004, American teenager Jeanna Giese survived an infection of rabies unvaccinated. She was placed into an induced coma upon onset of symptoms and given ketamine, midazolam, ribavirin, and amantadine. Her doctors administered treatment based on the hypothesis that detrimental effects of rabies were caused by temporary dysfunctions in the brain and could be avoided by inducing a temporary partial halt in brain function that would protect the brain from damage while giving the immune system time to defeat the virus. After 31 days of isolation and 76 days of hospitalization, Giese was released from the hospital. She survived with all higher level brain functions intact, but an inability to walk and balance. On a 2013 podcast of NPR's "Radiolab", 9 years after her discharge from the hospital, Giese recounted: "I had to learn how to stand and then to walk, turn around, move my toes. I was really, after rabies, a newborn baby who couldn't do anything. I had to relearn that all ... mentally I knew how to do stuff but my body wouldn't cooperate with what I wanted it to do. It definitely took a toll on me psychologically. You know, I'm still recovering. I'm not completely back. Stuff like balance, and I can't run normally."

Giese's treatment regimen became known as the Milwaukee protocol, which has since undergone revision with the second version omitting the use of ribavirin. Two of 25 patients survived when treated under the first protocol. A further 10 patients have been treated under the revised protocol, with a further two survivors.

However, simple husbandry changes and practical midge control measures may help break the livestock infection cycle. Housing livestock during times of maximum midge activity (from dusk to dawn) may lead to significantly reduced biting rates. Similarly, protecting livestock shelters with fine mesh netting or coarser material impregnated with insecticide will reduce contact with the midges. The "Culicoides" midges that carry the virus usually breed on animal dung and moist soils, either bare or covered in short grass. Identifying breeding grounds and breaking the breeding cycle will significantly reduce the local midge population. Turning off taps, mending leaks and filling in or draining damp areas will also help dry up breeding sites. Control by trapping midges and removing their breeding grounds may reduce vector numbers. Dung heaps or slurry pits should be covered or removed, and their perimeters (where most larvae are found) regularly scraped.

Rabies is also common in coyotes and can be a cause for concern if they interact with humans.

Prevention is effected via quarantine, inoculation with live modified virus vaccine and control of the midge vector, including inspection of aircraft.

Rabies can be contracted in horses if they interact with rabid animals in their pasture, usually being bitten on the muzzle or lower limbs. Signs include aggression, incoordination, head-pressing, circling, lameness, muscle tremors, convulsions, colic and fever. Horses that experience the paralytic form of rabies have difficulty swallowing, and drooping of the lower jaw due to paralysis of the throat and jaw muscles. Incubation of the virus may range from 2–9 weeks. Death often occurs within 4–5 days of infection of the virus. There are no effective treatments for rabies in horses. Veterinarians recommend an initial vaccination as a foal at three months of age, repeated at one year and given an annual booster.

Outbreaks of zoonoses have been traced to human interaction with and exposure to animals at fairs, petting zoos, and other settings. In 2005, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued an updated list of recommendations for preventing zoonosis transmission in public settings. The recommendations, developed in conjunction with the National Association of State Public Health Veterinarians, include educational responsibilities of venue operators, limiting public and animal contact, and animal care and management.

Globally, 59,000 people die from rabies each year. This is the equivalent of one person dying every nine minutes, with half of the people who die from rabies being under the age of 15. The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the Pan American Center of foot-and-mouth disease (PANAFTOSA) led a mission to eliminate dog-mediated rabies in the American region by 2015. These organizations are cognizant of the regional control of rabies. The PAHO and PANAFTOSA visited Haiti in early December, 2013, and the objectives of the mission were to assess the status of Haiti’s rabies program as delivered by the Haitian Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Development (MARNDR) and the Ministry of Health (MSPP). The mission was to seek opportunities for collaboration between Haiti, Brazil, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Haiti.

Even in 2017, rabies in Haiti is still identified as a national problem, even with PEP proposed.

Although no specific treatment for acute infection with SuHV1 is available, vaccination can alleviate clinical signs in pigs of certain ages. Typically, mass vaccination of all pigs on the farm with a modified live virus vaccine is recommended. Intranasal vaccination of sows and neonatal piglets one to seven days old, followed by intramuscular (IM) vaccination of all other swine on the premises, helps reduce viral shedding and improve survival. The modified live virus replicates at the site of injection and in regional lymph nodes. Vaccine virus is shed in such low levels, mucous transmission to other animals is minimal. In gene-deleted vaccines, the thymidine kinase gene has also been deleted; thus, the virus cannot infect and replicate in neurons. Breeding herds are recommended to be vaccinated quarterly, and finisher pigs should be vaccinated after levels of maternal antibody decrease. Regular vaccination results in excellent control of the disease. Concurrent antibiotic therapy via feed and IM injection is recommended for controlling secondary bacterial pathogens.

Contact with farm animals can lead to disease in farmers or others that come into contact with infected animals. Glanders primarily affects those who work closely with horses and donkeys. Close contact with cattle can lead to cutaneous anthrax infection, whereas inhalation anthrax infection is more common for workers in slaughterhouses, tanneries and wool mills. Close contact with sheep who have recently given birth can lead to clamydiosis, or enzootic abortion, in pregnant women, as well as an increased risk of Q fever, toxoplasmosis, and listeriosis in pregnant or the otherwise immunocompromised. Echinococcosis is caused by a tapeworm which can be spread from infected sheep by food or water contaminated with feces or wool. Bird flu is common in chickens. While rare in humans, the main public health worry is that a strain of bird flu will recombine with a human flu virus and cause a pandemic like the 1918 Spanish flu. In 2017, free range chickens in the UK were temporarily ordered to remain inside due to the threat of bird flu. Cattle are an important reservoir of cryptosporidiosis and mainly affects the immunocompromised.

SuHV1 can be used to analyze neural circuits in the central nervous system (CNS). For this purpose the attenuated (less virulent) Bartha SuHV1 strain is commonly used and is employed as a retrograde and anterograde transneuronal tracer. In the retrograde direction, SuHV1-Bartha is transported to a neuronal cell body via its axon, where it is replicated and dispersed throughout the cytoplasm and the dendritic tree. SuHV1-Bartha released at the synapse is able to cross the synapse to infect the axon terminals of synaptically connected neurons, thereby propagating the virus; however, the extent to which non-synaptic transneuronal transport may also occur is uncertain. Using temporal studies and/or genetically engineered strains of SuHV1-Bartha, second, third, and higher order neurons may be identified in the neural network of interest.

Cat bites can often be prevented by:

- instructing children not to tease cats or other pets.

- being cautious with unfamiliar cats.

- approaching cats with care, even if they appear to be friendly.

- avoiding rough play with cats and kittens.

Rough play causes is perceived as aggressive. This will lead to the cat being defensive when approached by people. Preventing cat bites includes not provoking the cat.

The first step in treatment includes washing and then irrigating the bite wound.

Seek medical attention if: if the cat has not been vaccinated against rabies.

A tetanous booster is given to the person if It has been more than 5 years since their last tetanus shot. If a cat has bitten someone, and there is no evidence that the cat has been vaccinated against rabies, the person will be treated for rabies infection.

No vaccine is licensed for use in the U.S. Infection with either of these bacteria results in nonspecific symptoms and can be either acute or chronic, impeding rapid diagnosis. The lack of a vaccine for either bacterium also makes them potential candidates for bioweaponization. Together with their high rate of infectivity by aerosols and resistance to many common antibiotics, both bacteria have been classified as category B priority pathogens by the US NIH and US CDC, which has spurred a dramatic increase in interest in these microorganisms. Attempts have been made to develop vaccines for these infections, which would not only benefit military personnel, a group most likely to be targeted in an intentional release, but also individuals who may come in contact with glanders-infected animals or live in areas where melioidosis is endemic.

In 2012, the World Health Organization estimated that vaccination prevents 2.5 million deaths each year. If there is 100% immunization, and 100% efficacy of the vaccines, one out of seven deaths among young children could be prevented, mostly in developing countries, making this an important global health issue. Four diseases were responsible for 98% of vaccine-preventable deaths: measles, "Haemophilus influenzae" serotype b, pertussis, and neonatal tetanus.

The Immunization Surveillance, Assessment and Monitoring program of the WHO monitors and assesses the safety and effectiveness of programs and vaccines at reducing illness and deaths from diseases that could be prevented by vaccines.

Vaccine-preventable deaths are usually caused by a failure to obtain the vaccine in a timely manner. This may be due to financial constraints or to lack of access to the vaccine. A vaccine that is generally recommended may be medically inappropriate for a small number of people due to severe allergies or a damaged immune system. In addition, a vaccine against a given disease may not be recommended for general use in a given country, or may be recommended only to certain populations, such as young children or older adults. Every country makes its own vaccination recommendations, based on the diseases that are common in its area and its healthcare priorities. If a vaccine-preventable disease is uncommon in a country, then residents of that country are unlikely to receive a vaccine against it. For example, residents of Canada and the United States do not routinely receive vaccines against yellow fever, which leaves them vulnerable to infection if travelling to areas where risk of yellow fever is highest (endemic or transitional regions).

The mainstay of eradication is the identification and removal of persistently infected animals. Re-infection is then prevented by vaccination and high levels of biosecurity, supported by continuing surveillance. PIs act as viral reservoirs and are the principal source of viral infection but transiently infected animals and contaminated fomites also play a significant role in transmission.

Leading the way in BVD eradication, almost 20 years ago, were the Scandinavian countries. Despite different conditions at the start of the projects in terms of legal support, and regardless of initial prevalence of herds with PI animals, it took all countries approximately 10 years to reach their final stages.

Once proven that BVD eradication could be achieved in a cost efficient way, a number of regional programmes followed in Europe, some of which have developed into national schemes.

Vaccination is an essential part of both control and eradication. While BVD virus is still circulating within the national herd, breeding cattle are at risk of producing PI neonates and the economic consequences of BVD are still relevant. Once eradication has been achieved, unvaccinated animals will represent a naïve and susceptible herd. Infection from imported animals or contaminated fomites brought into the farm, or via transiently infected in-contacts will have devastating consequences.

Variola caprina (goat pox) is a contagious viral disease caused by a pox virus that affects goats. The virus usually spreads via the respiratory system, and sometimes spreads through abraded skin. It is most likely to occur in crowded stock. Sources of the virus include cutaneous lesions, saliva, nasal secretions and faeces. There are two types of the disease: the papulo-vesicular form and the nodular form (stone pox). The incubation period is usually 8–13 days, but it may be as short as four days.

It is thought the same virus spreads sheep pox, to which European sheep breeds are highly susceptible. The virus may be present in dried scabs for up to six months.

In endemic areas the morbidity rate is 70–90% and the mortality rate is 5–10%. The mortality rate may reach nearly 100% in imported animals. Resistant animals may show only a mild form of the disease, which may be missed as only a few lesions are present, usually around the ears or the tail.

An anthroponotic disease, or anthroponosis, is an infectious disease in which a disease causing agent carried by humans is transferred to other animals. It may cause the same disease or a different disease in other animals. Since humans do not generally inflict bite wounds on other animals, the method of transmissions is always a "soft" contact such as skin to skin transmission. An example is chytridiomycosis which can be spread by humans with the fungus on their skin handling frogs with bare hands.

The reverse situation, a disease transmitted from animals to humans, is known as zoonotic.

It can also be defined as a human-to-human infection with no animal vector.

Many human diseases can be transmitted to other primates, due to their extensive biological similarities. As a result, centers that hold, treat, or involve close proximity to primates and some other kinds of animals (for example zoos, researchers, and animal hospitals), often take steps to ensure animals are not exposed to human diseases they can catch. In some cases animals are routinely immunized with the same vaccines given to humans.

- Leishmaniasis - Both zoonotic and anthroponotic.

- Influenza, Measles, pneumonia and various other pathogens - Many primates.

- Tuberculosis - Both zoonotic and anthroponotic, with birds, cows, elephants, meerkats, mongooses, monkeys, and pigs known to have been affected.

The following steps and precautions should be used to avoid infection of the septicemic plague:

- Caregivers of infected patients should wear masks, gloves, goggles and gowns

- Take antibiotics if close contact with infected patient has occurred

- Use insecticides throughout house

- Avoid contact with dead rodents or sick cats

- Set traps if mice or rats are present around the house

- Do not allow family pets to roam in areas where plague is common

- Flea control and treatment for animals (especially rodents)

Fortunately, severe systemic reaction to vaccine allergy is very rare in dogs. When it does occur, however, anaphylaxis is a life-threatening emergency. More often, dogs will develop urticaria, or hives within minutes of receiving a vaccine. When this occurs, a veterinarian will treat the reaction with antihistamines and corticosteroid drugs and this is usually effective. Future vaccine protocols must be modified according to the vaccine component suspected to have triggered the reaction.

Foot-and-mouth disease or hoof-and-mouth disease (Aphthae epizooticae) is an infectious and sometimes fatal viral disease that affects cloven-hoofed animals, including domestic and wild bovids. The virus causes a high fever for approximately two to six days, followed by blisters inside the mouth and on the feet that may rupture and cause lameness.

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) has very severe implications for animal farming, since it is highly infectious and can be spread by infected animals comparatively easily through contact with contaminated farming equipment, vehicles, clothing, feed and by domestic and wild predators. Its containment demands considerable efforts in vaccination, strict monitoring, trade restrictions, quarantines and occasionally the culling of animals.

Susceptible animals include cattle, water buffalo, sheep, goats, pigs, antelope, deer, and bison. It has also been known to infect hedgehogs and elephants; llamas and alpacas may develop mild symptoms, but are resistant to the disease and do not pass it on to others of the same species. In laboratory experiments, mice, rats, and chickens have been successfully infected by artificial means, but they are not believed to contract the disease under natural conditions. Humans are very rarely infected.

The virus responsible for the disease is a picornavirus, the prototypic member of the genus "Aphthovirus". Infection occurs when the virus particle is taken into a cell of the host. The cell is then forced to manufacture thousands of copies of the virus, and eventually bursts, releasing the new particles in the blood. The virus is genetically highly variable, which limits the effectiveness of vaccination.

Concerns about these adverse reactions have led to revised guidelines in 2006, 2010 and 2011 that address these concerns by altering the recommended frequency and methods/locations for both vaccination of dogs and feline vaccination.

Goat pox is found in the part of Africa north of the equator, the Middle East, Central Asia and India. It may be spread between animals by:

- Direct contact

- Indirect transmission by contaminated implements, vehicles or products such as litter or fodder

- Indirect transmission by insects (mechanical vectors).

- Contamination by inhalation, intradermal or subcutaneous inoculation, or by respiratory, transcutaneous and transmucosal routes