But it always ends like this:
Posted on 06/16/2012 12:30:36 PM PDT by nickcarraway
The dog will now be quarantined for at least six months
A California man is receiving treatment after being bitten by a rabid bat while cleaning a pool in Riverside, Calif., roughly 60 miles east of Los Angeles.
Riverside County Animal Services spokesman John Welsh said the 55-year-old was bitten Wednesday, a day after a dog was bitten by a rabid bat in nearby Hemet, The Press-Enterprise reported.
Despite having received its rabies vaccination, the dog will now be quarantined for at least six months.
"While not extraordinary to find rabies in bats, we believe our cases, coupled with the recent cases in San Bernardino County, is a good time to remind the public to be cautious around bats," Riverside County chief veterinarian Allan Drysys said, according to KCBS-TV.
What was Nancy doing so far away from home???
Maybe not. But all moonbats are rabid.
Glad the bat my cat brought in the house was dead. I have had to shoo out plenty of live birds the little critter has brought in, but a live bat would have given major heebie jeebies. I think I would have needed help from Jim Beam.
There is nothing uglier, or more ferocious looking than a bat.
Rabies is common in the bat population. One summer about 15 years ago I was working in my garage at night while wearing shorts. The garage door was open and at one point I looked down and saw what appeared to be a leaf clinging to my bare leg. When I brushed it off it fell to the floor and started flopping around. I collected it in a bag and the county came to pick it up the next day. They called a day later and said the bat died of rabies and to go get the shots. Three shots in the arm over a three month period, with no side effects. Much better than the alternative.
But it always ends like this:
We have tons of bats here. At dusk you can see them flying over the pool area. When we have an outdoor movie as soon as I turn on the projector everyone says.....ooooh bats! lol
We have never had a problem of any kind with them though.
Make sure your gable vents have a stout screen behind them. My neighbors had a bat infested attic because they got in via the gable vents.
After a few passes and some poor flying he flopped on a rock by the pool and died.
I called Pima County animal control and they came pretty quickly, got it and tested it for rabies. It was rabid, but since we didn't touch it and the pool chlorine level was OK, no problems for us....:^)
It was strange to see a bat out flying at noon though.
I know exactly how you feel, the same, exact thing happened to me. About ten years ago I was raking the leaves in my front yard when I looked down and saw what looked like a leaf attached to my leg. Well, it turned out that’s what it was. But it had some kinda sticky stuff on it and it was kinda hard to get off and everything. Anyway, I got it off and it wasn’t rabid, but you can imagine I was a bit concerned for a couple of minutes there.
NOT SAFE!
Never, ever touch a bat, alive or dead, and if you do, see a doctor immediately. Even *proximity* to a bat is regarded as extremely dangerous.
Bats are wonderful creatures, consuming an enormous amount of insects, and they are to be encouraged. But under normal circumstances, you should never be in contact with one, nor will a healthy bat willingly get in contact with you.
Dog or cat, if they are exposed to a bat they must be quarantined, even if vaccinated. If they have bitten or carried the bat in their mouth, you need to limit contact with them as well.
No matter what all else, you will probably have to get a rabies shot, so resign yourself to that.
“No point in mentioning those bats, I thought, the poor b****** will see them soon enough.”
Well, this happened 4 months ago, cat fine, me fine, bat thrown in the garbage.
But I will keep the warning in mind if the cat does it again.
And the bat/rabies hysteria continue.
In the last 60+ years since records on this were started......
PUBLISHED STATISTICS THROUGH MARCH 2008:
• 53 cases confirmed as a result of bat rabies.
• 51 deaths* confirmed as a result of bat rabies in the past 56 years (since 1951). An average of less than one death per year.
*Of the 51 confirmed deaths, 4 contracted rabies through organ transplants.
Knowing the habits of bats and how they act in the wild is of importance. If one is out in the middle of the bright sunny day...maybe something is wrong with it. If is flopping around like its dying, maybe it is. It has sharp teeth. Dont let it bite you.
There is no more risk of a bat having rabies than many other warm blooded animals in the wild that has not had a rabies vaccination.
Raccoon and skunks are over twice as likely to have rabies as bats, but they sure are a lot cuter than than those ugly bats.
Give me a break.
Uh oh....One did fly up to me in college about 20-25 years ago. It did touch me. It did not bite me.
http://www.cdc.gov/Features/dsrabies/
“In the U.S., rabies represents a serious threat to the health of people and animals. Every year, it is estimated that 40,000 persons receive a rabies prevention treatment called post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) due to a potential exposure to rabies.”
> 53 cases confirmed as a result of bat rabies.
> 51 deaths confirmed as a result of bat rabies in the past
> 56 years (since 1951).
This number is so low because if there is a suspicion that you have been exposed, you are given PEP. If you are unaware that you have been exposed, and you contract rabies, you are almost certainly going to die.
So the question becomes, if whatever percentage of those people who were exposed to rabid bats and given PEP, were not given PEP, how many would have died of rabies?
There is no way of knowing, of course. But it is likely a lot larger a number.
Where are the horror stories about lil' fluffy giving junior the rabies?
Im not saying that there is no risk. But to scare people with hype is irresponsible at best.
Bats are wild animals. But they are not aggressive disease ridden killers that some make them out to be.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prevalence_of_rabies#United_States
“The most widely distributed reservoir of rabies in the United States, however, and the source of most human cases in the U.S., are bats. Nineteen of the twenty-two human rabies cases documented in the United States between 1980 and 1997 have been identified genetically as bat rabies. In many cases, victims are not even aware of having been bitten by a bat, assuming that a small puncture wound found after the fact was the bite of an insect or spider; in some cases, no wound at all can be found, leading to the hypothesis that in some cases the virus can be contracted via inhaling airborne aerosols from the vicinity of bats.
“...This inability to recognize a potential infection, in contrast to a bite from a dog or raccoon, leads to a lack of proper prophylactic treatment, and is the cause of the high mortality rate for bat bites.”
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110131133323.htm
“University of Calgary research says the number is closer to one per cent regardless of species or where the bats roost.”
So if 1% of the total number of bats have rabies, an estimate of the total populations of those species of bats most likely to transmit rabies to humans, along with other variables like unusual behavior, living hear humans or in human dwellings and thus presenting a proximity risk via contact or aerosols, gives a more reasonable outlook about the threat of bats.
Bottom line is to leave some species of wild animals alone, and be cautious if you come into contact with them.
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