Post by jonsdigs on Jan 17, 2007 23:28:35 GMT -5
School Alerted to Rabid Bats
Two cases of bites to humans are reported in Sarasota County within 30 days.
By LIZ BABIARZ
January 17, 2007
NYT Regional Media Group
SARASOTA- Principal Steven Largo has a message for Pine View School's students and teachers: Beware of bats.
The warning comes less than a week after a Pine View science teacher spotted a bat outside the school's media center and took it home to release it into a nature preserve.
But before the winged mammal was set free, the teacher's son, a middle-schooler who has not been identified by district officials, stuck his hand in the box and was bitten.
The bat later tested positive for rabies, the second in Sarasota County to do so in less than a month, according to the county Health Department. Only one bat tested positive for rabies in all of 2006.
"We don't have that many human exposure reports, so to have two in 30 days raises some concerns from the health department's perspective," Chuck Henry, the county's environmental health director, said. "We want to remind the public not to handle bats."
The other incident occurred in the backyard of a Sarasota home on Dec. 18, when a woman reported to the Health Department after being bitten by a bat while doing yard work.
The bat was sent to the state regional laboratory in Tampa, where it tested positive for rabies. The woman was treated without complications, said Dianne Shipley, spokeswoman for the Health Department.
Largo said the boy, who is not a Pine View student, is undergoing treatment and should be fine. People bitten by an animal that has never been vaccinated should receive five doses of rabies vaccine and a shot of rabies immune globulin.
This isn't the first time bats have been a problem at Pine View, Sarasota County's school for gifted students grades 2 through 12. The school is located in Osprey.
In the summer, bats were roosting in the overhangs of the media center.
Netting was put up to prevent the bats from returning, but those screens have been damaged and should be replaced this week, Largo said.
Largo sent out a recorded message to parents on Friday and advised parents to teach their children to stay away from bats and other wildlife on the Pine View campus.
"We have a great campus, surrounded by nature, and it's very pretty," Largo said. "But we have to remember we have neighbors and they were here first, so we have to respect them."
Full Article
Two cases of bites to humans are reported in Sarasota County within 30 days.
By LIZ BABIARZ
January 17, 2007
NYT Regional Media Group
SARASOTA- Principal Steven Largo has a message for Pine View School's students and teachers: Beware of bats.
The warning comes less than a week after a Pine View science teacher spotted a bat outside the school's media center and took it home to release it into a nature preserve.
But before the winged mammal was set free, the teacher's son, a middle-schooler who has not been identified by district officials, stuck his hand in the box and was bitten.
The bat later tested positive for rabies, the second in Sarasota County to do so in less than a month, according to the county Health Department. Only one bat tested positive for rabies in all of 2006.
"We don't have that many human exposure reports, so to have two in 30 days raises some concerns from the health department's perspective," Chuck Henry, the county's environmental health director, said. "We want to remind the public not to handle bats."
The other incident occurred in the backyard of a Sarasota home on Dec. 18, when a woman reported to the Health Department after being bitten by a bat while doing yard work.
The bat was sent to the state regional laboratory in Tampa, where it tested positive for rabies. The woman was treated without complications, said Dianne Shipley, spokeswoman for the Health Department.
Largo said the boy, who is not a Pine View student, is undergoing treatment and should be fine. People bitten by an animal that has never been vaccinated should receive five doses of rabies vaccine and a shot of rabies immune globulin.
This isn't the first time bats have been a problem at Pine View, Sarasota County's school for gifted students grades 2 through 12. The school is located in Osprey.
In the summer, bats were roosting in the overhangs of the media center.
Netting was put up to prevent the bats from returning, but those screens have been damaged and should be replaced this week, Largo said.
Largo sent out a recorded message to parents on Friday and advised parents to teach their children to stay away from bats and other wildlife on the Pine View campus.
"We have a great campus, surrounded by nature, and it's very pretty," Largo said. "But we have to remember we have neighbors and they were here first, so we have to respect them."
Full Article