First dog rabies case in Bexar County in over a decade raises public health concerns

For the first time in more than a decade, a domestic dog in San Antonio has tested positive for rabies, a disease that never truly leaves a landscape — it only waits. The infection traces back to an encounter with a wild skunk that went unreported, a quiet failure in the chain of vigilance that exists to keep wildlife disease from crossing into human homes. The dog's owner, bitten before the diagnosis was made, now faces a demanding course of post-exposure treatment, while public health officials use this moment to remind a community that a long absence of danger is not the same as safety.