Rabid bats led to three human deaths in recent months, CDC warns. ‘Sobering reminder’
Three people who had direct contact with rabid bats died of human rabies in recent months, officials said.
Their deaths were confirmed in this week’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
All three people were exposed to rabies in August 2021, though their deaths spanned from Sept. 28 through Nov. 10, according to the report. The two adults and one child, all males, were from Idaho, Illinois and Texas. Two other rabies deaths occurred earlier in 2021, one from rabid bat bite and the other from a rabid dog bite.
The five overall deaths mark an increase over recent years, according to U.S. News & World Report. “No reported rabies cases in people were reported in the United States during 2019 and 2020,” the outlet said.
Two of the three recent cases are considered “avoidable exposures” by the CDC: one person had picked up the bat with his bare hands, and another had a bat roost — a place where bats shelter — in his home.
“We have come a long way in the United States toward reducing the number of people who become infected each year with rabies, but this recent spate of cases is a sobering reminder that contact with bats poses a real health risk,” said Ryan Wallace, a veterinarian and rabies expert for the CDC, in a statement provided to USA Today.
“All three patients had recognized direct contact (e.g., bite or collision) with a bat approximately 3–7 weeks before symptom onset and died approximately 2–3 weeks after symptom onset,” the CDC said. Initial symptoms included pain, paralysis and seizure-like activity.
One of the patients submitted the affected bat for testing, but the CDC says he refused postexposure prophylaxis treatment (PEP) “due to a long-standing fear of vaccines.” PEP includes a dose of human rabies immune globulin and a rabies vaccine given on the day of exposure, and doses of the vaccine again on days 3, 7, and 14.
The other two people “did not realize the risk for rabies from their exposures, either because they did not notice a bite or scratch or did not recognize bats as a potential source of rabies,” according to the report. They also released the bats after making contact.
“Rabies is nearly always fatal once symptoms develop,” the CDC warns, “but nearly always preventable when PEP is administered in accordance with the recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.”
Their deaths are connected to three different bat species: Lasionycteris noctivagans (silver-haired bat), Tadarida brasiliensis (Mexican free-tailed bat), and Eptesicus fuscus (big brown bat), according to the report. All three species are common in the U.S. and have been connected to other rabies cases.
What to know about rabies
Rabies is a zoonotic disease that is primarily transferred from rabid mammals to people through saliva. While bites are the most common way to transfer the disease, experts say it can be transmitted when infected saliva enters cuts in the skin or through the eyes, nose and mouth.
“The rabies virus infects the central nervous system of mammals, ultimately causing disease in the brain and death,” according to the CDC.
Human rabies deaths in the U.S. are rare and have steadily declined since the 1970s, though rabid animals and rabies exposures are “relatively common.”
In this week’s report, the CDC estimated that about 60,000 people receive rabies PEP treatment after animal exposures each year, with about two-thirds likely attributed to bats.
To prevent transmission of rabies from bats to people, the CDC recommends avoiding contact with bats, safely capturing bats for testing after exposure and seeking evaluating for PEP treatment if a direct bat contact occurred and rabies was not ruled out.
This story was originally published January 6, 2022 at 5:26 PM with the headline "Rabid bats led to three human deaths in recent months, CDC warns. ‘Sobering reminder’."