Bats Rabies Concerns, Bat Bite Safety And Bats In The House
Bats are very beneficial to our environment, and they can be a great asset to have outside your
house eating thousands of mosquitos a night, but it is very dangerous to have bats inside your home or business.
Bat Rabies should be a concern when finding a bat in your house, however,
only about of 1% of bats have rabies. Just the same, you may want to take precautions
should you find one loose in your home. If you find a live bat in the house do not kill
it or injure the head. Per CDC recommendations (Center for Disease Control), this bat
should be sent in for rabies testing if anybody was sleeping while it was in the house -
so if you find a bat when you wake up in the morning; you need to have it tested as directed.
Again, if you find a dead bat, it should be tested. Testing can be done for a small
fee through your health departments epidemiology department. In fact, any bat found in
the home should be tested. Do not touch bats. If you're in the Oklahoma area, we can
help you catch or handle the bat, following all proper procedures, including
the bat removal process and
exclusion of the bats from inside your home and attic.
Bat rabies is transmitted when a bat with rabies bites or scratches a person's skin.
Even though a bat has razor sharp teeth, they are quite small and it can be hard to tell if you have been bitten by a bat.
Most of the time, you will not even know or notice. Imagine two small scratches close to one another
imagine taking the wire twist tie off of a loaf of bread strip the paper or plastic
covering off scratch yourself with two small scratches, 1/16" of an inch away
and parallel to each other - that is what a bat bite looks like.
If you've seen a bat in your home, follow CDC guidelines;
seek medical attention by contacting your local health departments epidemiology department
immediately. This bat should be tested, and the health department may recommend that
you undergo rabies post exposure treatment.
At that point, your insurance
should pay for a majority of the treatment, whereas if you simply want a pre-exposure series
of rabies vaccinations done, your insurance company will generally make you pay for all the costs.
If you have pets, take them to your veterinarian immediately and make sure that all of their vaccinations are
brought up to date, including rabies. Having pets in the house can slightly complicate the process, however,
their hearing and senses will almost always locate invading bats before you do, and this can help.
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