DIAGNOSIS

There is no definitive test to diagnose rabies in a live animal. The highly variable, nonspecific clinical signs — along with the lack of accurate diagnostic tests — make identifying rabies very difficult. That’s why a rabies diagnosis is most often made only after death during postmortem examination of the brain.

The only way to rule out rabies is to wait and see. Rabies generally progresses rapidly, so if undiagnosed neurological signs have not rapidly progressed within the first five days, rabies is most likely not the cause. However, because of the serious threat for human exposure when handling a horse with rabies, any suspected case of equine rabies should be handled as if it were positive until proven otherwise.

TREATMENT

Currently, there is no treatment for rabies, and infected horses invariably die.