A farmer in Todd County noticed that one of his three-month-old bottle-fed calves was refusing to eat last Sunday. Skunks were seen around the property in mid-January, and the farmer recalled the barn smelling like skunk. The calf was euthanized on Monday and submitted for testing. The animal tested positive for rabies on April 3.
Seventeen family members had visited the farm in the 10 days preceding the calf’s onset of clinical signs. Eight of those individuals will need to receive post-exposure prophylaxis.
This is the 13th case of rabies in Minnesota this year. The only other case in Todd County in 2013 was diagnosed in a skunk. There have been 10 cases of rabies in Todd County since 2005, including five skunks, one bat, one bovine, one feline and two canines.