Inherent lycans CAN'T actually spread lycanthropy to others - it is genetic! Accursed CAN, however - origins are hard to track, but most agree it was a foolish curse made by a vengeful werewolf who wanted revenge for being hunted. It backfired, clearly, so now there's efforts to control the spread.

Those who are turned are fewer and fewer in number, in recent years, but they do still happen. There's a real effort to help acclimate them "to the pack" though, so Travis is lucky in that regard. He gets a lot of support early on that makes the transition less scary :]