information:extraction
Other animals

Rabies is infectious to mammals; three stages of central nervous system infection are recognized. The clinical course is often shorter in animals than in humans, but result in similar symptoms and almost always death. The first stage is a one- to three-day period characterized by behavioral changes and is known as the prodromal stage. The second is the excitative stage, which lasts three to four days. This stage is often known as "furious rabies" for the tendency of the affected animal to be hyper-reactive to external stimuli and bite or attack anything near. In some cases, animals skip the excitative stage and develop paralysis, as in the third phase; the paralytic phase. This stage develops due to damage to motor neurons. Incoordination is seen, owing to rear limb paralysis, and drooling and difficulty swallowing is caused by paralysis of facial and throat muscles. Death is usually caused by respiratory arrest.