Health leaders in Missouri are urging pet owners to make sure their dogs, cats, and other four-legged family members are vaccinated against rabies.
Molly Baker is Lead Zoonotic Disease Epidemiologist at the Bureau of Communicable Disease Control and Prevention within the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. She said they were not really surprised when a rabies case was confirmed last month in a dog from McDonald County.
“We do see cases of rabies virus disease in Missouri every single year,” she told Missourinet. “I will say that domestic animal detections are less common. Most of our rabies-positive detections occur in wildlife species, but we do see domestic animal detections occur from time to time.”
The McDonald County Health Department did not say whether the infected dog was a stray or a family pet.
Baker said there are only a few species of wildlife in Missouri that regularly transmit rabies.
“Bats and skunks actually are the most commonly identified rabid animals in the state,” she said. “Most years we definitely see more bats than any other species testing positive, but we typically see a handful of skunks.”
Baker also said that state law does not require pets to be vaccinated against rabies, though some local governments do require vaccinations.
“We do have a number of county or city jurisdictions that have chosen to implement their own rabies vaccination requirements locally,” she said.
Other wildlife in Missouri that can carry rabies include raccoons, foxes, and coyotes.
Copyright © 2025 · Missourinet