Public health officials reported last week that seven wild bats tested positive for rabies in Los Angeles County so far this summer, and more are expected as bat season gets underway.
Bats are the primary carrier of rabies, a neurological disease that is fatal to humans and pets without immediate post-exposure treatment. And Los Angeles County has led all counties in the state with the highest number of rabid bats for several decades, state records show.
Summer and early fall months are the primary time for rabid bats to begin showing up in homes or public spaces, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. A bat with rabies will fly in the daytime, or hang lifeless on the side of a wall or lie on a sidewalk. Anyone who sees a bat in distress should not touch it or try to revive it, officials said.
“Rabies is 100% fatal. It is really serious. It has one of the highest fatality rates of any disease out there,” emphasized Dr. Karen Ehnert, director of veterinary public health for the county.
Of the seven rabid bats found this year, four were in the Santa Clarita area, and one each in Glendale, Altadena and Los Feliz, county health officials reported last week.
Most were in backyards or on the outside wall of a house. The rabid bat in the Los Feliz area was alive in the common area of an apartment complex.
A bite from a rabid bat, even a slight puncture from the bat’s sharp, needle-like teeth, can transmit the Rhabdovirus, which causes severe zoonotic encephalitis. It can take a week or even years to produce symptoms, such as headache, fever, chills, cough or sore throat, nausea, vomiting and malaise. If not treated before symptoms manifest, it is usually too late, Ehnert said.
No human rabies cases have been reported in L.A. County for a least a decade. The last case was a Central American immigrant who was bitten by a dog in his home country, she said. Only about 1% of the wild bats in nature have rabies. But 15% of bats found near…
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