After the last bat post, I thought some of you might be in places where bat encounters are frequent. Here are a few things of interest. First, there is an ongoing plague among bats called white nose syndrome that may wipe out bat populations in the east coast areas. It has been encountered in caves as far south as Virginia, but so far hasn’t crossed the Appalachians. It appears to be harmless to humans but the fungus may be carried on boots from one location to another. Although caves are being monitored, any spotting of dead bats with a white fungus should be reported. For more info:
http://www.nwhc.usgs.gov/disease_information/white-nose_syndrome/  

If you are around bird or bat guano or dust from it, you might want to wear a mask or respirator. Histoplasmosis is another fungus that does affect humans and can cause partial blindness and even death.

Third, after my wife who works at the Cincinnati Health Department sent me an email about bats and rabies, I began to search the web. In a number of states bats have become the most frequent carriers of rabies. I wondered how insectivorous bats in the Midwest could acquire rabies so easily. It turns out that the most frequent carriers are not only insectivores, but solitary bats that prefer isolated spots. The silver-haired and eastern pipistrelle bats were found to be the cause of 70% of rabies from bats. The Pipestrelle is the smallest locally found bat it hardly leaves a mark when it bites. 

There have only been some half dozen rabies deaths in the last ten years in the USA. Most were misdiagnosed. Several cases did not even report knowledge of a bite. So bat bites may happen without the knowledge of the victims, much like the vampire bites of folk lore. Also bat rabies statistics are on the rise by default. Domestic animals that once were the leading cause, due to proximity to humans, were inoculated to the point of nearly wiping out rabies from those species. Raccoons and other carnivores have also been subject to large scale baited inoculations. So bats are, so far difficult to inoculate.

Other studies show that few bats in caves carry active rabies. Most bat rabies occurs in cities where old and abandoned building stock is available for roosts. But how do they get it? It turns out that genetic tests can not only identify which strain of rabies is carried by which bats, but nearly all bats have a strain in latent form. The two species that cause the most deaths may have a strain that is more virulent.

It also seems likely that destruction of forests where these reclusive bats once lived may have forced them into old buildings and sometimes homes. The proximity to other species may also somehow boost the virulence. 

So if a bat behaves strangely, not roosting in the daytime, not flying at night, stay away from it. Don’t touch it without gloves. Capture or kill it if it bites, and take it to the health department. If you are bit or have a child that was near one, go to the hospital. If you are around a lot of bats, wear a respirator. Some doctors say that infection can be acquired from inhaled urine.

Biologists have found rabies in bats in every continent except Antarctica, most recently in Australia (1996). The two strains studied there using DNA methods were computed to have separated from a single strain 1700 years ago and are most similar to a strain found in the Philippines.

To read the complete report:

http://larrycsimpson.googlepages.com/batsandrabies

Larry2

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