{"id":11628,"date":"2026-03-17T16:38:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T22:38:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/spate-of-rodent-related-diseases-kicks-off-new-mexico-spring\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T21:32:34","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:32:34","slug":"spate-of-rodent-related-diseases-kicks-off-new-mexico-spring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/spate-of-rodent-related-diseases-kicks-off-new-mexico-spring\/","title":{"rendered":"Spate of rodent-related diseases kicks off New Mexico spring"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A
A bobcat photographed in Los Alamos in February 2026 just prior to the state\u2019s first rabies case, a bobcat in Sierra County. (Los Alamos County\/Kurt Steinhaus)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

New Mexico health officials on Monday reported the state\u2019s first case of rabies, the latest in a string of zoonotic diseases hitting the state for the first time this year. The New Mexico Department of Health said the rabies case involved a rabid Sierra County bobcat that attacked several dogs. Last week, the department announced the state\u2019s first case of plague for 2026 \u2013 inflicting a dog \u2013 and the year\u2019s first hantavirus case, both in Santa Fe County.<\/p>\n

\u201cI attribute it to coincidence, more than anything else, as all the cases were unrelated,\u201d said Erin Phipps, the state public health veterinarian, in an interview with Source NM. \u201cPerhaps with the warm winter, we might be seeing some foreshadowing of a high rodent populations throughout the state, which could reflect on our hantavirus and plague risks, but it\u2019s too early to say for certain.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rabies<\/div>\n

The rabid Sierra County bobcat was euthanized after attacking several dogs, the health department said. Rabies is most often found in skunks, bats and foxes but can be passed through saliva, often from bites, to other domestic or wild animals.<\/p>\n

The dogs were up to date on their rabies vaccines and will be monitored for symptoms over the next 45 days, Phipps said. Two people received post\u2011exposure rabies vaccinations out of precaution but were not bitten, she said.<\/p>\n

Phipps cautioned New Mexicans to check whether their dogs and cats have rabies vaccines or recent boosters. The state confirmed 13 rabies cases in 2025, which included one other bobcat in Sierra County. Rabid animals can show no fear and act aggressively or appear quiet and unusually tame.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve seen a fair bit of rabies activity in the southwest corner of the state over the past two years,\u201d Phipps said.<\/p>\n

Plague and hantavirus<\/div>\n

The state\u2019s first plague case, reported on March 13 \u2013 a Santa Fe County dog that is now recovering \u2013 does not have a clear origin. Phipps noted the dog had \u201cseveral encounters with rodents\u201d and may have contracted the disease directly from mice or from infected fleas.<\/p>\n

As the weather warms, Phipps said flea prevention for people and pets is a must to prevent plague \u2013 a bacterial disease transmitted through the parasite\u2019s bites.<\/p>\n

The first warning symptoms of plague are sudden, high fever, chills and often painful swellings in the groin, armpit or neck.<\/p>\n

Finally, the state\u2019s first hantavirus case reported last week \u201cis on the early side, but certainly not unheard of,\u201d Phipps said. She said more cases are expected through the spring and summer. New Mexico leads the nation in reports of the virus, which is transmitted through contact with infected rodent droppings, urine and saliva and can be deadly in one in three cases, according to health officials.<\/p>\n

Phipps noted that hantavirus has similar flu\u2011like symptoms to other viruses and urged people with fevers, chills and headache to see their doctors to test for influenza, COVID\u201119 or hantavirus.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery year about this time is when we start to see cases increasing and we want to bring attention to it,\u201d Phipps said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Officials report state\u2019s first case of rabies<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10837,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-11628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11628"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11628\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18523,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11628\/revisions\/18523"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11628"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=11628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}