(Undated)– Iowa is seeing more cases of rabies.
Public health officials say there were 85 confirmed cases last year…up from 81 the year before.
Bats made up the largest number, with 31 confirmed cases. The rest were divided between cows, cats, horses, skunks, a fox and dogs and cats.
In all, 16-hundred animals were tested.
Although bats made up the largest number of animals testing positive for rabies, skunks had the highest prevalence of the disease, with nearly half of the animals submitted testing positive for rabies.
Dogs had the lowest positive result.
Locally, Dickinson County Public Health Nurse Mary Dunleavy says three animals tested positive for rabies…compared with zero the previous year. Two of the cases in Dickinson county were in skunks; one was in a bat.
Dunleavy says her office had no reports of anyone being bitten by an animal that was later confirmed to have rabies.
