The virus travels to the brain along the peripheral nerves from the region of the bite. Once the virus is established in the brain the disease is seldom reversible and is usually fatal. In Iowa the skunk is the most common source of rabies exposure, followed by cows and cats. Both UHL and the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory in Ames perform rabies testing. During FY 1997, UHL tested 465 animals for evidence of rabies.
Raccoons are the most common source of rabies exposure on the East coast.
It continued up the eastern coastal states spreading to all the New England states in the early 1990s. Raccoon rabies was first reported in Ohio in 1996. Once rabies infection becomes established in raccoons in the Ohio Valley, the infection in raccoons may spread more rapidly across the Midwest. The UHL and other public health agencies will maintain vigilance for the arrival of this new strain of rabies virus in Iowa. Thanks to good intervention and control by the county and state health departments and the health care community, Iowa has not experienced a human case of rabies in many decades.