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The Health Department's Dr. Joni Scheftel said only one bat from the area tested positive last year and one bat in 2006.
The 2008 results don't necessarily mean there are more rabid bats out there, she said, it's probably the result of a spike in the number of bats being tested for the viral disease.
She credited the rise in bat submissions to the story of a Monticello man who died of rabies after a bat bite.
Still, Rochester veterinarian Dr. Tobin Emrich said he's concerned because he's already treated two family pets for rabies because they were playing with infected bats.
Scheftel said the most important thing people can do if they touch a bat, or think they were touched by a bat, is to capture it and have it tested.
