RABIES CALLS FOR PRECAUTION, NOT ALARM

By Merlin D. Tuttle, Bat Conservation International

The recent death of a teenage boy from Humble, Texas, should serve as a reminder that rabies, though rarely transmitted to humans, is always present. But for those who take simple precautions, it should not be cause for alarm. Rabies is easily prevented and vaccinating pets is the first line of defense.

In the US, most human rabies infections now come from wildlife because we have done such a good job of inoculating pets. The threat of rabies is miniscule for anyone whose pets are vaccinated and who avoids handling unfamiliar animals. We are at least 30 times more likely to die from a lightning strike than from rabies.

Rabies is always present in wildlife. Outbreaks periodically occur in such familiar wild carnivores as foxes, coyotes, skunks, and raccoons. But the disease is also found occasionally in a wide variety of animals, including such seemingly safe creatures as squirrels. Very few bats contract the disease and even those rarely become aggressive. In a lifetime of studying bats, often surrounded by millions at a time, I have never been attacked.

Outbreaks, in which a large proportion of a species population becomes infected with rabies, are not known in bats. Recent reports of a “dramatic” increase in rabid bats in Texas are unfounded. Health department warnings of potentially rabid animals typically trigger increased submissions of sick bats because of heightened public concern, which sometimes leads to unwarranted conclusions.

Sources of exposure are often difficult to identify because exposure may have occurred long before symptoms appear and the victims are typically too sick to provide details by the time rabies is diagnosed.

It has yet to be confirmed by the Center for Communicable Diseases that a bat was the source of rabies in the Humble case, although that is a strong possibility. When a Houston girl died of rabies in 1984, bats were initially blamed, though subsequent tests determined that her exposure was from a dog, seven years earlier.

Any animal bite should be considered an exposure to rabies unless the biting animal can be tested promptly. Though normally rabies is fatal once diagnosable symptoms appear, current vaccines are 100% effective if administered promptly after a bite. They are safe and painless.

Bat attacks are exceedingly rare, as illustrated by the fact that 1.5 million bats have lived in downtown Austin for some 25 years without anyone being attacked or contracting a disease.

In my experience, bat bites are typically recognized at the time they occur. Sometimes they are not reported because of misconceptions that rabies shots are extremely painful, an unfortunate myth.