Bats in the House! AAAAGH!

Factual Questions
21

Who said anything about “calling the cops”? Who said anything about panicking? That’s mischaracterizing what I said.

We’re talking about the OP finding not one but two bats recently in an area where she works. I’ve posted links to isolated cases where people who were near bats ended up with rabies.

With respect, I don’t care what the bats want, and neither should you or anyone else. I know they don’t want to bite or infect via other means anyone on purpose.

I posted links to cases where people have been exposed, and died, without bites.

How would a non-zoologist or a person not familiar with bats know if a bat is acting strangely? What does acting strangely entail for something flying around your house and banging against things trying to get out?

Well, the Centers for Disease Control says this:
From: Rabies | CDC

Does the OP reporting the catching of two bats in her office during the daylight constitute a place where they are not normally seen? Note that there are many other cases where bats clearly behave “oddly”, but how does one with limited bat experience know for sure? I wouldn’t know.

Bats don’t have radar, it’s a type of sonar. Read up on bats and find out more about them - they’re really interesting critters. And your choice may be right for you but it may not be the right choice for a generic person.

Why? Over the years on the SDMB I’ve seen this apparent fear of people just doing the simple thing and seeking medical advice with real doctors. I saw it long ago when people tried to claim it was almost inconceivable that anyone should learn how to give a Glucagon shot to a diabetic. What is this fear about just doing the simple thing and seeking a doctor to get shots? (and I know that earlier I said “get the shots”, but I sincerely doubt that most places will just pass out rabies shots without you having a doctor write an order for them…that should be evident). Is it because it’s the “S-word”? I’ve had tens of thousands of shots, almost all of them given by myself. It’s not a grand, big deal to seek post-exposure medical advice and get 6 or however many little shots.

Here’s another bit from the CDC: Rabies | CDC

There was no evidence of a bite. However, they also suspect that there was most likely a bite while asleep nonetheless. In this case, the bat was behaving abnormally - it was making unusual noises and flying with difficulty. If you don’t know what noises a bat is supposed to make, how do you know that? If you don’t know how bats fly in enclosed spaces (like a house with furnishings), how do you know that it’s flying erratically? Hindsight is very sharp in these cases.

I don’t care what the bat’s reasons are. Bats are not malicious or mean, and they won’t try to bite unless panicked or something else has gone wrong. But I don’t care if I know it bit me or not. Google a bit and you’ll find cases where people did not remember any exposure or bite from a bat, yet were in the same area as bats and died.

I like bats. I like bats a lot. We have bats living in the tall trees near my house. At dusk Fierra and I will sometimes sit out and watch them swoop and dive for insects. The first time I ever saw a bat flying (outside of a cave) was when Fierra and I were on vacation in Greece, sitting by the seashore. I’m not saying the OP should harm, exterminate, or cause grief or pain to the bats - I’m saying that if they have a concern that they’ve had too much exposure, or the possibility of too much exposure, then they should eliminate the concern by telling a doctor and getting the shots.

Once again - the OP is concerned. I’m not saying everyone with bat exposure should dial 1-800-NAVYSEALS for their rabies shots. That should have been obvious. When I was caving I saw and passed by plenty of bats, and I never felt like I should get a shot. But a person who is concerned and who finds bats in an area where bats normally are not would be advised to ask their doctor and consider - or insist on if they are really concerned - the shots.

I can’t find any cite that either of the people in the two cases have pets. Again, the CDC does not mention testing any pets or other domestic animals in the house, so one would assume that there were nto any.

You must have found a link that showed that they had pets, so please post your links so we can see what other circumstances might also have played a factor.

22

That’s right–I got bitten by a bat that got in the house, and I didn’t even see the bite until several days later. I wouldn’t have even seen the bite mark if it hadn’t been on my arm. I had no idea it had gotten close enough to bite me, but it did. Of course I wasn’t smart enough to trap the bat and get it tested, so I had to get the shots. The first set wasn’t much fun (multiple shots, and they have to give shots in the bite–that hurt a little). The rest of the shots are in the arm, and it’s a lot like getting a flu shot.

You should probably get the shots, especially if there’s a rabies problem where you live. And fix your house so bats can’t get in (I think the CDC website has some info about keeping them out).

I used to like bats, but now it kinda gives me the creeps to see them flying around. I’m not looking forward to Halloween.

23

Actually, it was 2:30 am in my own kitchen. Which is an entirely normal time for a bat to be active, even if not a normal location.

Needlephobia.

I got 4 shots a week for 5 years for my allergies. I can deal with shots. I prefer not to get shots, but it’s not a big deal.

We already had an appointment for my Other Half to see the doctor tomorrow, so I was planning to inquire as to proper course of action at that time. Would apply to him as well, seeing as he was Primary Batcatcher and I was merely secondary.

24

When you said “building”, I thought that meant “office”.

I hope you know, it may not be clear from my post, that I’m not criticizing your seeing or not seeing someone. I’m not you, I don’t know anything about how you feel your exposure was, or how concerned you actually are. My comments on reluctance were a sweeping generalization based on my observations on the SDMB over the years.

25

Call Animal Control to trap the bat and test it for rabies. If that’s not an option, trap it yourself if you can do it safely (with leather gloves and a coffee can) and take it in to get it tested.

The bat that bit me wasn’t acting strange, so bats that aren’t obviously rabid do bite. I didn’t know I’d been bitten until almost a week later. Those little bite marks are easy to miss, and it is possible to be bitten by a bat without knowing it. If a bat is in your house and you didn’t see it come in, you don’t know where it’s been, and you don’t know if it was in your bedroom while you were asleep. You can get bitten while you’re sleeping and not ever know.

Una, I was freaked out about getting the shots, too. It’s not an easy thing to do. You have the choice of possibly getting a disease that’s 100% fatal, where there’s maybe a very tiny chance that you’ve been infected, or getting a series of shots that are painful and very expensive (and around here, the only place you can get them is the ER, so you end up spending more time waiting around to get the shots). It’s not like deciding to get a flu shot–it’s much more complicated. It wasn’t an easy decision, but in the end I decided I didn’t want to take any chances with getting rabies, so I spent 3 hours in the ER on a Saturday night getting a bunch of shots (good thing I had a really long book!), and then I had to get 4 other shots in the next month. It’s not fun, and it’s not something you want to do unless you really have to.

26

Well, each person has to make their own judgement call on how they want to proceed. Rabies is such a horrible disease - a hideous way to die, if you’re one of the very unlucky ones, that if I was concerned I would do it in a second. I understand as well that the shots are expensive - I saw a figure of $1500 for the series, if not covered by insurance. So I reckon some may not get treatment due to that factor as well.

27

Here’s a bat-in-house related problem that isn’t rabies, if anyone’s interested: when I was in college (NE US), we always had bats in the house (old campus house w/an attic). We had a tool that we made out of a laundry bag, a hanger, and a broom handle, and we used that to catch the bats and deposit them outside. Well one night, a bat flew in my open bedroom window out of the blue, flew right into the wall above my bed, freaked out and flew out my bedroom door into the hallway. We caught him with our net and put him outside and I thought nothing of it, until I began to feel like mosquitos were biting me every night. I looked it up online and the symptoms were in line with bedbugs, however no one else in the house had (or had ever had) bedbugs, and I hadn’t recently taken in any used furniture or entertained any visitors who might have been carrying them. I did more research, and turns out that the bed bug has a close relative, the “bat bug” that lives on bats, but if there is no bat to be found, it will make do with a human or other mammal. The bug or bugs must have fallen off of the bat when it slammed into the wall above my bed. I did everything you do to get rid of regular bed bugs, and it worked, but it’s good to know about “bat bugs” if bats tend to live in or around your house on a regular basis.

28

I haven’t seen the total bill yet, but the first visit was over $3000. That was the big one, and the rest should be cheaper, but still :eek:

29

Here is a “pro” bat site that says the incidence of bats with rabies is very low.

Here is a site from Colorado saying 15% of tested bats had rabies. :eek:

Many sites say less than 1% of bats carry rabies, but there are apparently very conflicting stats.

Sorry, Broomstick at first I thought you were being a bit melodramatic, but now I don’t know. I think I would get the shots.

30

This story is from May of 2006.

If I had a bat in my house I would get rabies shots, no doubt about it. I can’t think of any reason to call the cops, though. Did somebody suggest that? I don’t think so.

31

I also wanted to touch on this, but probably brain-fogged due to lack of good sleep and such.

A healthy bat does not, in fact, “bang” into anything. A healthy bat is an extremely adept and agile flyer, and indeed, in both cases the bats manuvered adroitly around all obstacles in what, to them, must have been a novel and possibly very strange environment. For about 40 minutes to an hour in both cases, which would also indicate health and vigor. They were behaving like wild animals that wanted to get the hell away from the big pink furless bipeds waving sheets of stryrofoam at them. Not only didn’t they bang into anything, they didn’t even touch anything in the environment.

Which, from what I’ve read in the past couple days, would in fact indicate these were healthy bats behaving in a normal manner.

And yes, I am still planning to discuss this with a doc today. Although I’m starting to incline more towards the idea there isn’t much risk here. A lot depends on what the local health authorities think is prudent, as they monitor rabies events in the area.

32

I read a little more about the Texas rabies case here.

33

FWIW, my neighbor caught and released a bat in his attic about 2 years ago. The bat was found in the attic, only one person went into the attic, they found the hole where the bat entered the attic, and there was no evidence the bat got anywhere else in the house. Even given all that, his primary care doctor and the town Board of Health absolutely insisted that the entire family, including their 4 & 3 year old daughters, get rabies shots. So he’s given up on any “catch and release” plans for the future.

34

Hit post too soon.

Also, for fun, find a copy of the standard Nurse’s Care Handbook, (I don’t know the exact name), and look up the nursing care for rabies. It’s chilling. It basically boils down to: keep the patient warm & prepare the relatives for his/her impending death.

35

See, that’s the problem with this whole thing. Half the time it’s YOU’RE GOING TO DIE! DIE! DIE!" and the other half it’s “Those people are overreacting”

I could not get ahold of my regular doc after all. However, we did consult a local vet (under the theory they know something about rabies, too). He said the bats displayed normal, healthy bat behavior and he thought it would be extraordinary for a bat to bite to healthy sober adults, even in sleep, and the humans not notice anything. Also pointed out the bats were not found where we sleep but in another part of the house. Said we might as well fear rabies because the bats are living in the area and pooping into the backyard and what not - we exist in close proximity to them whether we are aware of them or not. He said that if the bats had been on the ground, spinning in circles, or otherwise “acting goofy” it would be a different matter entirely. Threw in that around here there’s more problem with bats having distemper than rabies.

I think I’ll still try to get ahold of Regular Doc tomorrow. And truth be told, I’m a little surprised none of the regular Doper Docs like Qadgop the Mercotan have checked in yet.

That is, plain and simple, an overreaction on the part of the local health authorities.

I’m inclined to take the CDC recommendations as a yardstick and the way I read them vaccinating the whole family would have been excessive. And we certainly have uncovered quite a bit of annecdotal evidence of bats-in-the-house with no ill effects on humans despite lack of shots. But then, I am not a doctor so what do I know?

36

Broomstick, it’s been over a month, are you still alive?

37

I know of two supposed cases both in extremely dense bat caves (literally millions of bats and guano to your knees). One patient had a skin condition (IIRC psoriasis) flaring up on the back of his neck and may have been scratching it. So, we have direct bat fluid to mucus membrane contact. The second patient was reported by a few coworkers to have an open sore on his face.

Aerosol transmission has been caused in the lab, but I see no evidence it has happened outside the lab.

Re Bat Bites In Sleep

We’re dealing with teeny teeth here people. IMO It’s entirely possible to sleep through on.

38

Apparently, although my husband has mentioned he’s a little disturbed by my new habit of sleeping upside down while clinging to a curtain rod with my toes. :smiley:

In amongst my research, and in consultation with medical professionals, I did learn that between my history of adverse reactions to various vaccines and the composition of some of the rabies vaccines, I was in a high risk category for having a bad reaction to the shots, like plunging blood pressure, outbreak of hives, and failure to continue breathing. Obviously if I’d been actually BITTEN or something it would be a different matter entirely and arrangements could be made to “manage” such an adverse reaction, but circumstances were such that it was highly unlikely that I had been exposed or that the bats were ill.

So no, I didn’t get the shots, I didn’t get rabies, and now we are dealing with mice in the house (I think we still have one left to trap).

Should I add a disclaimer? Yeah, probably - I am an not a medical professional or authority on animals or rabies. Should you find yourself in a similar position please do not take this post as advice. Consult with professionals, your mileage may vary, etc.

39

Is it just me, but in October, seeing a post from Broomstick, about bats… well, is it not just so appropos?

40

I’ll have to find the lyrics to I Wanna Be Mrs Dracula