[AGL] Re: Bats in the belfry

[Wayne Johnson]

The information that I got from the Texas Department of Health was that 90% of Mexican Free-tail bats had rabies.  I never said 90% of all bats.  The numbers may have changed since then, but the MFT is still the best candidate.  The number of people who have died in the last ten or so years is quite small.

Still, I am a little bit confused about exactly what the "message" is here, Karen.  Is it that there is little to worry about from incidental contact with any bat?  All bats?  Bats which may or may not be rabid?

Or is it...just don't worry about anything?

Or is it...just don't worry about anything Wayne J says?

I thought the following clipping might be of some interest.

-------------------------------

Texas teenager dies of rabies from bat bite 
16-year-old dies week after becoming sick from bite received month before
Reuters


Updated: 7:51 a.m. ET May 13, 2006
HOUSTON - A Texas teenager who was bitten by a bat while he slept in his home has died of rabies, the Houston hospital that treated him said in a statement.

Zachary Jones, 16, died Friday, a week after he became ill from the bat bite he received about a month before.

According to U.S. Centers for Disease Control statistics, only 10 other people have died of rabies in the United States since 1998.

"Rabies, which causes devastating neurological damage, is almost always fatal once symptoms appear, as was the case with this child," Texas Children's Hospital said in a statement.

A 15-year-old girl from Wisconsin who contracted rabies in 2004 survived after the onset of symptoms, which can take weeks to develop.

Doctors at Texas Children's were trying the same treatment on Jones that saved the girl, but a spokeswoman told the Houston Chronicle the boy's illness was more advanced and he had a different strain of rabies.

A bat apparently flew through an open window into Jones' room while he was napping. He felt the bat brush against him, but did not know he had been bitten, health officials said.

The bat was captured with a towel and thrown out the window so it was never examined for rabies, they said.

Bats are common in Texas in spring as they migrate north after spending the winter in Mexico. Wildlife experts say they consume insects and help pollinate useful plants.

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Karen Willis 
  To: survivors' reminiscences about Austin Ghetto Daze in the 60s 
  Sent: Monday, June 19, 2006 6:10 PM
  Subject: RE: [AGL] Re: Bats in the belfry


  This is not true that 90 percent of bats carry rabies.  If you get bit, Frances, do your best to catch the bat so it can be tested.  If you don't get bit, you don't have to worry.  This is nothing to be alarmed about.  All of us who frequent the Congress Avenue bridge area are in relatively close proximity to numerous bats.  I'm not afraid for my life.

  Karen
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.pairlist.net/pipermail/austin-ghetto-list/attachments/20060619/0b832a86/attachment.htm