The present design is a descriptive study in which people bitten by animals, rabies treatment used and the reactions to it are described. The frequency of adverse effects to the vaccine and to the serum are pointed out. The forms of clinical presentation and the clinical symptoms of the reactions observed in the Ciego de Avila province, Cuba, in the period from 1981 to 2001, were evaluated. In this period prevailed the reactions to the heterologous serum and the reactions caused by the human rabies vaccine. Local reactions to the vaccine were more common than the systemic ones. Four neuroparalytic reactions produced by the vaccines were observed. The most frequent symptoms and signs of the patients with reaction to the vaccine were pruritus, rash, localized urticaria, papule in the point of injection and local pain. The clinical manifestations considered as reactions to the heterologous serum that prevailed in the patients were rash in gluteal regions, pruritus, local erythyema and fever. No patient was detected with neurological manifestations caused by the heterologous serum.