"Devil rabies" is the colloquial name for a strain of rabies that has periodical outbreaks in Oceanyka. Most warm-blooded animals can be infected, and zoonosis is very common. Symptoms include encephalitis, mouth foaming, uncontrollable salivation, constant agony, extreme aggressiveness, paranoia, psychosis, loss of frontal lobe functions, skin necrosis, and a heightened metabolism. Hydrophobia does not usually set in, a distinguishing factor from the common rabies. The eyes act as a focal point for viral reproduction, resulting in their internal destruction, but heightening of the other senses. It spreads via exchange of fluids, particularly saliva where the virus concentrates, so biting is the most common form of transmission. Symptoms usually take around two weeks to emerge after infection, lasting until death, which does not normally occur on its own. In the past, devil rabies were widely considered Oceanyka's most notorious disease, as epidemics could quickly spiral out of control. Today there exists a vaccine, though it is somewhat expensive.
Those afflicted by the devil rabies have had a number of names through history, as has the disease itself. Many of them have had a religious undertone; both natives and European settlers believed they had been beset by a supernatural force, referring to them as "possessed" or "ghouls". Following the release of George A. Romero's controversial 1968 masterpiece "Night of the Living Dead", the international community began calling those afflicted by the devil rabies "zombies". The Oceanykan government welcomes this newly found attention, since utterly horrified world leaders across Earth promoted the funnelling of resources into the Oceanykan Red Cross to prevent a mass outbreak of this disease.