Rabies is in the news far more than usual this year, and the New York Times asked on October 21 whether the virus is actually making a comeback in American animals. The university flagged the piece because one of the experts quoted is from UMN: Jonathan Sleeman, the wildlife veterinarian who leads The Raptor Center on the St. Paul campus.
The list of incidents is long and a little surreal. Rabid beavers turned up in Maryland and New Jersey, goats at a North Carolina petting zoo were infected, and California logged a record number of bat cases. No human rabies cases have been confirmed in 2026. Experts still can't say for sure whether the rise is real or partly a product of more people paying attention and more animals getting tested. Sara Margrey, Ohio's public health veterinarian, described that effect as "kind of a positive feedback loop sometimes."
Sleeman put part of the blame on development. "We're building subdivisions into former wildlife areas," he said, which puts people and pets in closer contact with the animals that carry the virus. Other factors raised in the coverage include growing skepticism about pet vaccines, the effects of climate change on wildlife populations, and staff cuts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC suspended its rabies testing in April because of staffing and didn't restart it until August.
Sleeman is the executive director of The Raptor Center and holds the Patrick T. Redig Endowed Chair in Raptor and Ecosystem Health. That makes him the university's go-to person when wildlife disease meets human health.
The national numbers are what got federal officials' attention. From July through August, the CDC received 17% more inquiries about human rabies exposures than in the same months of 2025. Use of rabies vaccine was up 33%, and use of rabies immunoglobulin was up 76%. At least 8 state health departments reported more post-exposure treatment, administration errors, or both, and the CDC responded with a Health Alert Network notice. That treatment can cost up to $14,000 per course.
Minnesota had its own scare this fall. The state Board of Animal Health confirmed on September 8 that a cow in Brown County had rabies. Health officials recommended post-exposure shots for 9 people: the owner, the owner's daughter, 2 minor children, 2 veterinarians and 3 veterinary technicians, several of whom had handled the sick heifer without gloves. Officials quarantined 13 cows for monitoring. In Minnesota, skunks and bats are the most common carriers. About 1% of wild bats carry the virus, but 3% to 4% of the bats the Minnesota Department of Health tests each year come back positive, since sick bats are the ones most likely to be submitted.
The practical takeaway hasn't changed, whether or not rabies is truly surging. Once symptoms appear, treatment doesn't work. So if you wake up with a bat in your dorm room or get bitten by a wild animal, call a doctor before you decide you're fine.
