"Poison is not merciful towards people who have consumed it unknowingly." - Wraith
The virus has 4 stages and each one of them is unique, before dying the host passes through a lot of pain and agony, but the desire to take it's own life is never an option, from stage 1 to stage 2 the virus is not contagious and can be prevented but not cured, however, from stage 3 the host changes drastically it's behaviour and the need to spread the virus become it's main objetive.
The virus phases:
Stage 1: Saliva, Scruff fur, scars (The virus doesn't let any scars heal up, no matter the time when they got made or not), it can be prevented, not cured, in this stage it's not contagious.
Stage 2: Severe hunger and thirsty (Making wolves so hungry that they would eat anything that moves and it's never enough), dizziness, walking in zig-zag, shaking standing still and having to sleep for hours to be able to get up, it's only contagious by blood if the host bleeds for any reason at all.
Stage 3: Semi-final stage, wolves at this stage gets insane as they're almost dying, the need to spread the infection takes their mind so they do anything to spread it in any way they can, it's extremely contagious, by saliva, blood, tears, etc...
Stage 4: Death.