Post by L Roebuck on Nov 3, 2006 12:55:38 GMT -5
Rabid bats not a threat - as long as you don't touch
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.
Article
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.
Article