Rabies is a very dangerous illness that attacks the brain and nerves. Dogs can get it, and so can cats, bats, foxes, and many other animals that feed their babies milk. A person can get it too if an animal with the disease bites them, or if that animal's spit gets into a cut or into the eyes or mouth. Without medicine it almost always kills — though actually, if you get the injections soon after the bite, they work very well, so a bite is a reason to see a doctor at once, not a reason to panic in the street. An animal with rabies may suddenly become angry and bite, or it may become weak, quiet, and strange; that wild change is why the old Latin name means rage or madness. It is a serious medical word, not a word for ordinary anger. You cannot catch it like a cold, from the air across a room.