Final answer:
Rabies can cause death within 1-2 weeks after symptoms appear. Vaccination after a bite can prevent the virus from reaching the nervous system, which is vital for survival. Once symptoms manifest, the disease is typically fatal.
Step-by-step explanation:
Left untreated, rabies can cause death within C. 1-2 weeks. The incubation period for rabies can vary but once the virus reaches the brain and later symptoms appear, the disease is nearly always fatal. The progression of rabies from the time of an animal bite until it enters the central nervous system may be two weeks or longer, which allows time to administer vaccinations that can prevent the virus from affecting nervous tissue and causing the potentially fatal neurological consequences.
The initial symptoms of rabies are discomfort at the site of the bite, fever, and headache. If postbite treatments are not administered and the disease progresses, the outcome is dire. Rabies can end in terminal stages called furious or paralytic rabies, both resulting in death after a brief period of severe symptoms including agitation, paralysis, and eventually coma or respiratory arrest.
Rabies can cause death within hours of a bite by an infected animal if left untreated.