Five animals in Bell County have tested positive for rabies since January, leading local health department officials to issue a warning about a certain increase in local rabies cases for 2003. Four skunks and a horse infected by the skunk strain of rabies have been reported in the county, according to Dr. Beverlee Nix, zoonosis control veterinarian for the Texas Department of Health in Temple. That compares with three cases last year and only two cases, both rabid bats, in 2001.