# Rabid bats not a threat - as long as you don't touch



## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

Rabid bats not a threat - as long as you don't touch

http://www.mlive.com/news/kzgazette/index.ssf?/base/news-20/1162571071305050.xml&coll=7

Friday, November 3, 2006 By Linda S. Mah [email protected] 388-8546

A Kalamazoo girl had a scare in October when she was bitten by a rabid bat, but health officials say such incidences are rare and preventable. 

Antonia Zuniga, a 13-year-old Edison neighborhood resident, was home Oct. 19 when she found her pet cat with a bat in its mouth. When she grabbed the cat, the bat bit her, said her mother, Elena Zuniga. 

Elena Zuniga caught the bat in a box and was going to release it, but instead brought it along when she took her daughter to the emergency room. Bronson Methodist Hospital sent the bat to Lansing, where it tested positive for rabies.

Antonia Zuniga is in the middle of a month-long series of shots as treatment for rabies, a virus that attacks the central nervous system. 

``The doctors say she's going to be fine,'' Elena Zuniga said. ``She's been a real trouper.'' 

Maintaining distance from bats -- and other wild animals -- is the best protection against contracting rabies, said Dawn Veznia, an educator at the Organization for Bat Conservation in Bloomfield Hills. 

``Bats do not attack people,'' she said. ``Typically when people contract rabies from a bat, the person has initiated the contact.'' 

A 10-year-old Indiana girl died Thursday from a rabies infection after being bitten by a bat in June, according to The Associated Press. 

Steve Lawrence, director of Kalamazoo County Animal Services and Enforcement, said one other rabid bat -- which did not bite anyone -- has been found in Edison this season. 

The county usually finds up to four rabid bats a year, Lawrence said. Rabies is contagious and is spread through saliva, which bats may share through grooming each other. 

More bats are found in houses in the fall as the animals try to find shelter from the elements, but bats don't tend to mix with humans, Lawrence said. His department's biggest bat-rabies concern is the possibility of bat-to-cat-to-human transfer of rabies. 

``We do a good job of making sure dogs are vaccinated for rabies through licensing. But there are no regulations for cats,'' Lawrence said. ``If a sick bat gets in a house, the one who is probably going to find it is a cat. The cat could get some transfer and pass it on to the owner.'' 

Lawrence said that if people find a bat, and they are sure there has been no contact with the animal, it can be removed from the home and released. But if someone has been bitten, has other contact with the animal or awakes to find a bat flying around a room, that person should catch the animal and have it tested, he said. 

Dr. Richard Tooker, chief medical officer of Kalamazoo County Health and Community Services, said, ``It's an ever constant possibility that bats may be rabid, but in general, you should not see bats unless you look up in the sky and see them flying at dusk. 

``Any other time you see a bat, that's an abnormal occurrence -- meaning the animal is sick or trapped indoors.'' 

For more information on bats, go to www.batconservation.org. For more information on rabies go to www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/rabies.


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## huntingfool43 (Mar 16, 2002)

Well last summer my aunt found a bat in the house that was sick. Her first thought was maybe the cat got it but my uncle through the bat in the garbage. The next day they decided to take the cat in for a rabie shot just to be safe. The vet told my uncle to go home and get the bat and he sent it to Lansing. It came back positive for rabies. My aunt, uncle and cousin all had to go through shots for rabies. Acordding to the doctor a bats teeth are so small and sharp you may not even feel them bite you if you were sleeping so to be safe they all had to go through the shots. Oh ya the cat got 1 too.


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## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

Bats on the prowl for homes
Animal control officers say the loss of farm habitat has the nocturnal creatures seeking shelter in attics.

The county Health Department is warning residents to be on the lookout for the nocturnal creatures after a larger than normal number of reports of bats slipping into area homes and scaring homeowners.

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070801/METRO04/708010355


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## spiritofthewild_06 (Mar 20, 2007)

Hamilton Reef said:


> Bats on the prowl for homes
> Animal control officers say the loss of farm habitat has the nocturnal creatures seeking shelter in attics.
> 
> The county Health Department is warning residents to be on the lookout for the nocturnal creatures after a larger than normal number of reports of bats slipping into area homes and scaring homeowners.
> ...


I like how they had a picture of that huge african bat instead of a big brown! Now all the city folk are gonna be terrorized that they have one of those living in there house! Oh well I guess thats good for my uncle business. On another note, when I was working for my uncle doing wildlife control, every house that we went to for bats everyone was deathly afraid that they were gonna get rabies. Well my uncle has been in wildlife control since the early 90's and he has only encountered a few bats that have tested positive for rabies. I'm guessing he has dealt with millions, yes millions of bats, and granted he doesnt, nor cant test every bat that he gets out of a house, but all in all it seems as though rabie numbers in bats per number of bats we have in michigan is relitivley low.


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## Bachflock (Jul 3, 2007)

There has been another rabid bat found in the City of Muskegon - makes at least 3 for the year.


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## 22 Chuck (Feb 2, 2006)

Having been in the position of trying to supply rabies immune globulin for an ER I can say that if you touch that bat you will be given the vaccine(s). Chances are rather slim but the result is death.


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## WAUB-MUKWA (Dec 13, 2003)

LOL at spirit of the wild. No doubt they'll all be freaking out like in the movie reefer madness ruuning down the streets. :yikes::help:


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## Fierkej (Dec 21, 2001)

State health officials say they are discovering rabies in more animals this year than at any time since the late 1950s, and most of the positive rabies tests involve bats. 
Please see this website to read more:
http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-10370_12150---,00.html 
For general information about rabies in Michigan, go to www.michigan.gov/rabies

If there is a human and/or unvaccinated pet or livestock exposure, you should contact the local health department immediately. 
There are 2 primary types of exposure:
1) Bite (higher risk)-This would include any penetration of skin by an animal&#8217;s teeth. Bites to the face and hands or multiple bites carry the highest risk.
2) Non-bite (lower risk)-Scratches or abrasions received from an animal, or the contamination of open cuts, wounds, or mucous membranes with an animal's saliva, brain, or other neural tissue. Non-bite transmission of rabies is rare. These likely would not be tested for rabies at the Michigan Dept. of Community Health (MDCH).

If you see a die-off of bats (more than just a couple), contact Tom at the DNR Wildlife Disease Lab: (517) 336-5034 (office), (517) 336-5116 (necropsy lab), [email protected]; or contact your local DNR Office.


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## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

Mich. puts out rabies warning
State advises pet, livestock owners to vaccinate after highest spike of disease since '50s

Moved by a spike in rabies cases unprecedented since the 1950s, the state Department of Agriculture has issued an advisory that includes livestock as well as household pets such as cats and dogs.

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070910/METRO/709100330


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## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

Maps of Rabies Positive Animals in Michigan
http://www.michigan.gov/emergingdiseases/0,1607,7-186-25807_26084-74189--,00.html


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## sadocf1 (Mar 10, 2002)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Reported_1.gif


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## alex-v (Mar 24, 2005)

huntingfool43 said:


> Acordding to the doctor a bats teeth are so small and sharp you may not even feel them bite you if you were sleeping so to be safe they all had to go through the shots.


I guess that is why it says in the article mentioned in the msg that starts this thread "Rabid bats not a threat - as long as you don't touch". So, don't touch the bat. Pick it up with a rag or something and put it into a plastic bag.

And, can someone explain why the common bat in Michigan, the brown bat I believe, would bite a human while that person is sleeping???


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