Rabies Post Script

Just after I posted the Iowa rabies cases I picked up an article in the journal Veterinary Medicine (Jan 2010) regarding world wide pet overpopulation and its effect on humans. In India 20,000 people die of rabies every year mostly from bites from the country's estimated 30 million stray/unwanted dogs. Many of the deaths are children. In contrast in the United States only 27 people have died of rabies since 1990. Just another reason to be thankful for where we live.

2009 Rabies Cases in Iowa

The state veterinarian's office has released the 2009 rabies case numbers. There were 35 total for the year. Usually the majority of cases in the northern part of the state. In 2009 there were 24 cases in the counties north of Polk County and 11 south of Polk County. There were no cases in Polk County which is kind of unusual. There were 5 cases in the 8 counties that surround Polk. The species distribution for the state was: 13 skunks, 11 bats, 5 cows, 3 cats, 2 dogs, and 1 squirrel. Squirrel rabies is very uncommon. The remainder of the species distribution was not surprising.