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14 June 2005
BAT WITH RABIES FOUND BY MANCHESTER CANAL
Four handlers given emergency injection
By Stephen White
FOUR people were inoculated after a rabid bat was found on a canal bank.

The animal was lying stunned after flying into a tree.

A passerby who picked up the Daubenton's bat at Radcliffe, Greater Manchester, and three animal protection workers had to have painful anti-rabies jabs. None has caught the virus.

It is only the fourth bat in Britain to be found with rabies in the last 19 years.


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Dr Ken Lamden, health protection consultant, said: "This particular bat was found to be infected with the European Bat Lyssavirus type 2 - a strain of rabies that is thankfully very uncommon in the UK bat population.


"The bat had been stunned after flying into a tree and was picked up by a member of the public and also handled by three professional bat workers.


"None were bitten or scratched but all were vaccinated against rabies as a precautionary measure and all are infection-free."


The most common British bats pipistrelles do not have that strain of the virus. But Prof Martyn Regan said: "Although any risk to humans from a bat bite or scratch would be low, we would strongly advise members of the public not to handle a sick or injured bat.


"Our advice is particularly aimed at anglers and walkers, as Daubenton's bats tend to live near rivers or canals, often roosting in the stonework of bridges. Anglers should not handle bats that become snagged on their fishing lines."


Bat handler David McRae, 56, of Guthrie, Angus, became the first person killed by rabies in Britain for more than 100 years after being bitten by a bat with the European Lyssavirus in November 2002.


Last year Jenna Giese, 15, made medical history when she survived rabies without a vaccine after being bitten by a bat at church.


Jenna, from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, became critically ill because she didn't go see a doctor straight away.


But she was put in a drug-induced coma then injected with anti-viral medicines. The coma gave her body time to fight off the virus.

That's Manchester for you ;)

What do you mean by that MT?  :-\

Good grief - I had never ever thought about bats having rabies.
:o

Bats with rabies are not very common.  The risk is minimal if a common sense approach to safety is used so please continue to love these furry little fellows everyone. 

The rabies side of things has really put the spooks up some people and places this endangered species at risk even more.  Leave them be and no harm will come to you, don't touch them just contact the Bat Conservation Trust and a local bat worker will remove any injured bats safely.

And if you have a roost don't mess about with it, bats and humans can still live in harmony.  You'd need to get bitten to get infected and you'd need to touch it to get bitten.  So just don't touch a bat and we're all happy...

The majority of bats are not infected and need the support of the public.

Only a very weak attempt at humour, I'm a Yorkie you see ;D

I'll get me coat :-[

scary stuff h :o
most nights i stand at my backdoor & watch a couple of bats weaving about~it's very hypnotic :)

Quote from: Merry Tiller on June 16, 2005, 01:09:52
Only a very weak attempt at humour, I'm a Yorkie you see ;D
:-[

Me too, Merry.
;)

I too have seen what I am sure are a couple of bats flying around in the dark, Greenwizard.

 ;D
Hello HoneyBee, i was shocked to read your story about the rabid bat because the same thing happened to me the other day only it was a wood pigeon. my garden is full of them, and one flew into a tree, when i went to investigate it was foaming at the mouth and it tried to bite me.

What you find a rabid woodpigeon foaming at the beak and then post asking for recipes on how to cook it? ;D ;D

rabies is not to be messed with.
as it occurs periodically in europe, during one such rabies time in a rabies zone, i played with kittens and was scratched. as the kittens in question could not be found afterwards (living wild) myself and my friend were sent to a hospital that specialises in diseases (tropical and otherwise), and had to undergo a fortnight of rabies treatment :-\
not something i would recommend to anyone. though at the time, being 11 and 12, it was kinda 'cool' - except for the painful injections every morning.

bottom line - dont play with/handle any wild animals.
lesson learnt :)

svea

This very serious thread has degenerated somewhat and I think you are all making light of it.  You made me laugh my head off this morning.  Ta very much  ;D

MT  are you still in the doghouse?

HB   What an interesting story!  Ta for sharing.  It's quite unbelievable in this country in this day and age.  My garden is full of bats but I know now not to ever touch them

really? should i be worried about this wood pigeon i found, maybe his friends have rabies too.

Ttt  ;)

HB   On the radio news this morning a lady from Salford has died from rabies after being bitten in India  :o

I hadnt heard about that Wardy.

I did have a friend in the late 1970s who was a nurse and she was looking after a patient with rabies who bit her, i dont think he broke the skin but she had to have very painful injections in  for the next few weeks.

It was headline news in one of the sunday papers, i remember reading it, then my B/F rang and told me it was his best mates sister  :o

Fortunatley though we still hear little about rabies, probably because of the tight contols that we have.