< > Literature Reports of DISEASE DURATION (TO DEATH) IN INDIVIDUAL ANIMALS for Rabies (with special reference to Raccoons):

Disease Duration (to Recovery) in Individual Animals

General

• The clinical course for rabies is generally a matter of days - one to 10 days is usual, longer courses are seen occasionally. The prodrome may last one to three days, the furious stage one to seven days (in dogs) and the paralytic stage two to four days. 

In Procyon lotor - Common Raccoon

• While raccoons inoculated with a street rabies virus originating from a dog have sometimes been found dead without prior clinical signs, more usually raccoons with natural or experimental rabies infection have shown clinical signs for periods of less than one day up to 17 days.
• Note: there is little data from recent experiments, since, as part of humane experimental protocols, animals are usually euthanised as soon as definite clinical signs are noticed.

General

• Days. Death usually occurs one to 10 days after the onset of signs; longer courses are seen occasionally. (B209.1.w1)
• The prodrome, when noticed, may last one to three days. (B47)
• Furious stage may last one to seven days in dogs. (B47)
• Paralytic stage usually lasts two to four days. (B47)
• In carnivores: Usually no more than five days but exceptionally more than nine or ten days. (B47)
• In cattle. Similar to carnivores. (B47)
• In rodents: in experimentally inoculated Sciurus carolinensis - Eastern grey squirrels either no clinical signs were seen or signs lasted about 24 hours before death. In other rodents (kangaroo rats Dipodomys merriami, cactus mice Peromyscus eremicus, cotton rats Sigmodon hispidus and laboratory white rats (Rattus norvegicus - Brown rat), signs lasted three to six days. (J1.8.w2)
• In great apes: in a juvenile female chimpanzee, only a few hours elapsed between the onset of recognised clinical signs (unusual aggression) and death. (J4.162.w2)

In Procyon lotor - Common Raccoon

Raccoon rabies variant

• In two raccoons which died of naturally-acquired rabies while being held after capture in Florida, the duration of illness was three days in one animal and eight days in another. (B358.4.w4)
• In raccoons experimentally inoculated intramuscularly with a suspension from the salivary gland of a naturally infected raccoon from Pennsylvania, at 10^4.2 MICLD₅₀, the duration of illness was two to five days. (B360.16.w16)

Other rabies variants

• In a raccoon injected intramuscularly in the right hind leg with 0.2 ml of a skunk rabies isolate, the raccoon died on the 17th day from the onset of the first signs. (J196.58.w1)
• Intramuscular inoculation with fox salivary gland suspension from an Alabama rabid fox produced illness of less than one to three days (median two days) for raccoons inoculated with 10^2.2 MLD₅₀, three to seven days days (median four days) for raccoons inoculated with 10^3.2 MLD₅₀, and 1-13 days (median five days) for raccoons inoculated with 10^5.2 MLD₅₀. This was longer than that usually seen in foxes or skunks inoculated with the same strain(B358.4.w4, B360.16.w16, P21.64.w1)
• In a raccoon experimentally inoculated intramuscularly in the masseter muscle with 15,000 mouse lethal dose 50 (MLD50) of saliva from a coyote infected with bat rabies from Mexican free-tailed bats Tadrida brasiliensis mexicana) (the coyote had been infected by inoculation with saliva from a coyote which had been infected by a on-bite route following exposure to a cave of the bats), clinical signs lasted for 20 hours prior to death. (J13.27.w3)
• In a raccoon experimentally inoculated intramuscularly in the masseter muscle with 4,000 mouse lethal dose 50 (MLD50) of saliva from rabid Mexican free-tailed bats Tadrida brasiliensis mexicana, clinical signs lasted for 20 hours prior to death. (J13.27.w3)
• Following inoculation of raccoons with 10^3.2 MICLD₅₀ New York City/Georgia canine strain rabies virus (NYC/GA) from fox salivary glands (a known lethal dose), into the masseter muscle, three raccoons were found dead without prior clinical signs. Other individuals showed two phases of clinical signs with the first, increased alertness or apprehension, lasting less than 24 hours, followed by aggression for only a few hours prior to death. (J1.28.w8)