BAT bites teen-teen dies of rabies

OK.... thank GOD this wasn't on MAURY,otherwise wouldn't believe it. Moments like this make me think we are still so ANCIENT in our medical practices.

WOW, strange things still happens in this world.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,195339,00.html

He began showing rabies symptoms last week. Doctors suspect the teen was infected several weeks earlier when a bat flew through his open bedroom window and bit him as he slept.

Health experts say bats' teeth are extremely small and sharp, so a person could be bitten and not realize it.

Hours before his death, fellow players on the Humble Wildcats team tearfully prayed for his recovery. Classmates dressed in white Friday to show solidarity for him and some pinned his photo to their shirts.

"We were told he had only hours left. But nobody wanted to believe it," said Daniel Tatman, 16, one of the players.

From what I know it would be highly unlikely that a bat would bite a person unprovoked.


This is a teenage boy we are talking about so its more likely he attempted to catch the bat ... Maybe was afraid to tell his parents??

EIther way it is sad.

It's funny this story came up,because just two weeks ago in the middle of the night,I was woken up by some noise,which happened to be a bat in my house.Surprisingly,I was quite calm,wrapped a huge bath towel around my body and head (not sure why I thought to do that lol),proceeded to open the door to the outside and the bat flew out.Being a little jittery after the expierence,I couldn't get back to sleep,so I surfed around on my computer about bats.

In almost all the articles I read,they stated that bats are not aggressive,and seems I handled the situation the proper way .... but in the same articles they also said to check for any tiny bite marks,because the bat may have bitten you while you were sleeping,and the bat could possibly be rabid.

Well ... thats conflicting information ... if bats are not aggressive,why are they biting you while your sleeping?

capps said:

It's funny this story came up,because just two weeks ago in the middle of the night,I was woken up by some noise,which happened to be a bat in my house.Surprisingly,I was quite calm,wrapped a huge bath towel around my body and head (not sure why I thought to do that lol),proceeded to open the door to the outside and the bat flew out.Being a little jittery after the expierence,I couldn't get back to sleep,so I surfed around on my computer about bats.

In almost all the articles I read,they stated that bats are not aggressive,and seems I handled the situation the proper way .... but in the same articles they also said to check for any tiny bite marks,because the bat may have bitten you while you were sleeping,and the bat could possibly be rabid.

Well ... thats conflicting information ... if bats are not aggressive,why are they biting you while your sleeping?

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Maybe not aggression - maybe thinking you are food?

i hope you did check for bite marks . . .

capps said:

Well ... thats conflicting information ... if bats are not aggressive,why are they biting you while your sleeping?

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I guess normally bats wouldn't bite, but rabid bats would... isn't aggression a symptom of rabies?

Yes aggression is a symptom of rabies.
SO is odd behavoir.
Like nocturnal animals (ie. racoons being out during the day)

Racoons are the most common danger for carrying rabies.
Typically smaller animals like bats or squirells or even smaller breeds of skunks (spotted skunks)
Don't live long enough to pass the disease on.
I am going to ask hubby to ask his friend, who has run several zoos, about this.

This is probably a ridiculous thing to wonder about. BUT.... I keep thinking of the movie Old Yeller from Disney. Does rabies actually cause those symptoms of being mean and foaming at the mouth? In humans too???

This is really sad. Who would ever dream something like this could happen

kidzndogznme said:

This is probably a ridiculous thing to wonder about. BUT.... I keep thinking of the movie Old Yeller from Disney. Does rabies actually cause those symptoms of being mean and foaming at the mouth? In humans too???

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Humans become sick I am not sure of the human symptoms but in dogs and racoons and cats the aggression and foaming is what happens..

BTW hubby said its possible that if the bat landed on the bed and a person rolled over?? they could be bitten..
He also said that bats can be carriers rather then actually get the symptoms himself.

I don't understand why, if they knew there was a bat exposure, he didn't get the rabies immunoglobulin? I mean they documented the exposure. We got a bat in our house 2 years ago (and I want everyone to stop right now and say a prayer that it never happens again -- please!) and the health department said since the bat didn't come into contact with anyone we had no reason to worry. They said if someone wakes up in the middle of the night and finds a bat flying around in their room they need to notify the health department and they are REQUIRED to get the immunoglobulin (unless they captured the bat, the bat was tested and was proven not to have/carry rabies). I can't find any information about what type of bat likely bit him. I wonder if it could have been a vampire bat since Texas is so warm? Vampire bats do bite mammals and other animals and consume their blood. We put up a bat house, so please, dear batties, go there, we have no mosquitoes for you here!!!!!!

This story really hit home for me.

Last June my daughter woke up and heard frantic squeaking in the next room. She got up and looked and saw a "suspicious" bat flapping around on the floor and squeaking frantically.

We have seen lots of bats and regard them as good things in general, so she knew that this bat was acting abnormally.

She picked up a pajama bottom that was nearby, threw it over the bat, scooped it up and enclosed it in a box until I got home. I peaked at the bat and it hissed at me. I started callling around for advice. This was, of course, 4pm on a mid-summer Friday.

The health department told me that MOST PEOPLE WHO GET RABIES FROM BATS DO NOT KNOW THAT THEY WERE BITTEN. In fact, you can contract rabies if bat saliva gets into your eyes, nose or mouth. For this reason, if a bat is found in a room where someone has been sleeping or a baby or incapacitated person has been alone with a bat, the CDC recommends that the bat should be tested for rabies and, if it tests positive, the person should be treated, even if there is no sign of a bite.

Next step: get the bat tested. Easy enough since the state health dept lab is only about 5 miles from my house. Except the animal has to be dead when you bring it in. I called a couple of vets to see if they would euthanize it. No - they don't deal with wild animals. Called the Game Commission. The officer suggested that I kill it with ether. I don't happen to keep ether around the house, though. Finally, I picked up the bundle of pajamas and bat and dunked the whole business into a bucket full of water and left it there for about 15 minutes. Picked the bat out with stainless steel tongs and put it in a baggie and drove it to the lab.

Next morning (Saturday) the lab called. Bat is positive. Daughter should get shots. Can't reach her Dr. right away. Tried my own Dr. and got a snotty nurse who told me that unless the bat had clamped on and really bitten her there was no need for shots. Finally took her to the ER. Our ER has quite a bit of experience with rabies exposure and they were helpful and reassuring and told me that we were absolutely right to get the shots.

So....even if she had NOT tried to catch the bat, the CDC protocol would be for her to have the shots because the bat may have been in her room while she was asleep. But my Dr's emergency "service' blew me off. Who knows what would have happened if I had listened to that nurse? Or if we hadn't had the bat tested?

The whole thing was a major pain in the a$$. Pets had to have shots. Some of them were under house arrest for a few months. Daughter had lots of shots. But we are all alive and well.

But it wasn't easy to get straight-forward accurate advice when I needed it.

luthersmama said:

This story really hit home for me.

Last June my daughter woke up and heard frantic squeaking in the next room. She got up and looked and saw a "suspicious" bat flapping around on the floor and squeaking frantically.

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this is an incredible story LM. I cannot believe I will know what to do if i should ever stumble upon these circumstances. Unbelievable.

By Associated Press | October 9, 2005

BENNINGTON, Vt. -- A 9-year-old boy has begun a series of anti-rabies injections after a rabid bat bit him.
The Buckleys took their son to the emergency room at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center. Doctors treated the bites as if the bat had rabies and William started a series of anti-rabies injections.

The bat was picked up by health officials on Thursday morning. On Friday, test results confirmed that the bat was rabid.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I was bitten by a feral cat that was being given away.The woman did not tell me that it was a feral animal.She used the word "shy"
I had a rabies vaccine that was updated because I was a part time Animal Control Officer and had my rabies vaccination up to date.
Even with this precaution,I was admitted to the hospital and was given an IV with anti-biotics and tests were done.
I ended up with cellulitis (no..not the *advertiser censored* cellulite,although that was the first thing that popped in my mind when the doctor said that word.) and a prescription for pills that would have been expensive if I did not have insurance.