New Bat Rabies Case

Hello folks. In the next few days you'll probably see news reports about a person who passed away after contracting rabies from a bat.

In preparation for that, I want to remind the community of something they should already know: bats are not sneaky. If a bat comes into contact with you, unless you are drunk or otherwise passed out, you will know. And they will not come sneak in and bite you and sneak out again while you are drunk/passed out. Sick bats indoors simply aren't going to be doing that. Folks who get rabies from bats generally have told friends or family about having bat contact, including picking up bats, getting attacked by them, waking up to find bats on them, and being bitten/scratched by them.

Folks generally know these things have happened to them. All of us here in this sub would get rabies PEP in any of these situations (depending on your country and bat lyssavirus range) but the people in news stories who got a bat bite and died of rabies generally chose not to seek medical care for whatever reason.

These are not people who felt something fly by in the dark. These are not folks who saw bats flying around them at twilight. These are not folks who woke up with mysterious scratches after a camping trip. These are not folks who thought they heard something in the house at night but never found it. These are folks who had direct physical known contact with bats, often with reported bites.

Keep your head on your shoulders and remember the facts.