If you touch the bat or think you or your pet or child could have touched the bat , call Public Health immediately at Anyone who touched or had contact with the bat or its saliva could be at risk of getting rabies, which is almost always fatal once symptoms begin. Fortunately, rabies can be prevented if treatment is given before symptoms appear, so quickly identifying anyone who has had contact is important.
If you think you or your children or pets may have touched or picked up a bat, call Public Health immediately at Dogs and cats that have had contact with a bat should get a rabies booster vaccine right away, even if they are current on their rabies vaccination. Testing can confirm whether your animal needs to be quarantined. Keep pets protected. To treat rabies immediately, the patient receives an additional shot of immunoglobulins - a bolus of proteins. They will bind to the virus and activate the immune system to rid the body of the virus.
The large dose of immunoglobulins given at the time of exposure will begin to work immediately. It's crucial to not wait because once symptoms develop the shots no longer work. And the time of exposure to symptoms varies from person to person. So, even if you think that you may have been exposed to rabies, go to see your doctor and get the rabies vaccine. Because if you get the vaccine and you didn't have rabies - there is no harm done.
But, if you don't get it and you do have rabies, you will die. View the discussion thread. Julianna LeMieux received her Ph. She followed that with a post-doc at MIT, working on the nematode C. After teaching as an assistant professor for four years, she realized her passion for science communication and left her faculty position to join the team at the American Council on Science and Health in April She also served as a faculty member in the Citizen Science program at Bard College for two years, and stays on in a training role and as part of a working group.
She enjoys writing about a myriad of different topics, but is especially interested in infectious diseases, global health and vaccines.
She lives in NYC with her husband and three children and loves exploring the city with them. She can be reached at julianna acsh.
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Tens of thousands of people have closely observed the emergence of 1. In fact, though Austin, San Antonio and several other Texas Hill Country towns likely support the highest bat densities in America, they have recorded no human cases of bat-transmitted rabies. The media, animal control and health agencies have been known to sensationalize info about bats and rabies.
Although there are educated members of the media and health officials who provide factual information about bats and rabies, many incidents involving bats are ridiculously distorted, causing people to over-react in ways that increase rather than decrease the risk of contracting rabies. Attempts to illegally poison or exclude bats from buildings using inappropriate methods can dramatically increase human contact, as sick or homeless bats scatter to exposed positions throughout entire neighborhoods where they are more likely to come into contact with children and pets.
Several things can be done to prevent the transmission of rabies to humans. The most progressive tool we can use to fight this disease is education and common sense. Keeping domestic pets vaccinated against rabies is also critical in rabies prevention. Understanding how to peacefully co-exist with bats, teaching children to never handle bats and never attempting to rescue a bat bare-handed will minimize the risk of contracting the disease.
However, any animal bite domestic or wild should be reported immediately to a family physician or public health professional for evaluation as a possible rabies exposure.
Bat rabies has been implicated in most human rabies cases acquired domestically in the United States during the last 25 years, however, this does not mean the disease is widespread. Unlike skunks, raccoons and other wildlife, the small size of North American bats makes them appear harmless so people may handle them unwisely. Additionally, people who have been bitten might not bother to seek the treatment necessary to save their lives.
Any bat that bites a human should be tested for rabies as soon as possible, and post-exposure treatment should begin immediately unless the bat is confirmed negative. Post-exposure rabies treatment is relatively painless. Vaccinations are no longer administered in the abdomen. Injections are typically administered in the upper-arm or thigh. To most people the injections are relatively painless, like a flu shot or a tetanus shot. Click to Subscribe ».
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