Rabies

Hi, I had a similar experience in Belgium last year which I posted about on here. UK medical advice is that if you have been in a room with a bat and are a young child / sleeping adult, then you should have a full rabies course. This is for any bat outside the UK and I had a potential bite mark on my leg. I didn’t start my course until a week after the possible contact but the incubation period can be up to two years and I could not have coped with the anxiety of potential symptoms and the horror of then knowing it was fatal. The vaccine reduces the risk to virtually nothing.

Once the doctor I saw, saw the video footage of the bats in my room he agreed that I needed a course of vaccinations. I also spoke to a member of the virology / rabies control team in Cardiff who confirmed that I needed a course. We are so lucky here that the NHS provide this service for free and that I didn’t need to worry about cost. OP I hope the results come back as negative and you get some peace of mind, as it is an incredibly worrying situation. It is highly unlikely that you will have been exposed and you can start the course of the vaccine any time after contact, it doesn’t need to be in the first 48 hours, though that is preferred.

How do you not understand? What is difficult to comprehend?

Honestly the intellect level on MN nowadays is shocking.

Clearly you have no idea that the OP lives in a rabies area, not UK, and the bat needs to be tested to see if it was rabid.

Human lives above the life of a potentially rabid bat.

OP I guarantee won't get into any bother for killing a bloody bat that entered her home and put her children at risk.

Even in Australia, farmers are allowed to shoot flying foxes after the death of a little boy who was scratched by one of these bats and died in an horrendous way.

Bats get killed in rabies areas, and will continue to be, law or no law.

I don't blame OP's husband at all.
The bat needed trapping and killing anyway for testing as there is no way of telling if it bit her children.

So your husband killed the bat but then he spent an hour looking for the bat that was apparently just sat in a field.

No OP you just killed the bat. That's sick.

I'm from the UK had have bats fly around nightly where we live. I certainly don't go round killing them.

I'm not stupid in the slightest. I've read every one of the OP's posts and can't see justification at all for killing the bat. As I say, I'm thankful we do things differently in the UK and bats and other wildlife are protected.

@Swrigh1234 As I've said I grew up in a country with both a prevalence of rabies and bats.
Bats are indigenous wildlife and rescue organisations there take great pains to treat injured ones.
They, unlike the OP and you, are not hysterical and ill informed. The irony of you calling me stupid is hilarious.

You would think so, but then there is a special kind of stupid roaming among us proven by@JudgeAnderson @ThisIsACoolUserName

We've got our problems in the UK, but I'm so grateful that we aren't as quick to kill every creature that happens to cross our path. Poor bat.

Op, have the injections if that’s what the authorities advise. I say this as someone who lives in a country where there are rabid Foxes for eg and I would always follow government advice on what to do after being bitten by any animal.

Well I've been bitten by bats on several occasions and I've totally known about it so I'm finding the idea of undetectable bites a bit far fetched. Most bats are insectivores and don't randomly bite humans (I've only ever been bitten whilst handling them). I'm not saying impossible just incredibly unlikely.

And I'm from a country where both bats and rabies are prevalent and bats used to occasionally get into the house.

They don't randomly fly up and bite you. The only way you'd get bitten is if you handled one and you'd certainly notice.

We'd generally pick them up in a tea towel or similar to put then out.

I think some people are just trolling at this point.

You found a bat and instead of helping it outside you killed it?!

You are cruel ridiculous people.

Which is why you send in dead ones IF you find them dead. Once rabies symptoms appear it is 100% fatal, the symptoms usually appear in 2-10 days. How long do you think it takes to send a bat to a lab, them test it then send back the results? More than 2 days when I sent one in.

That's why advice is to leave the poor things alone. Open the window, leave the room, shut the door and if it doesn't leave on its own, try to coax it out after dark by turning on lights. You do not go near it, even to kill it.

It is illegal to kill, disturb or injure an endangered bat, even if it is in your house. Ignorance of the law is no defence. In fact, far from an outcry they tend to make examples of people in this situation to avoid more being killed or the spread of rabies by people who are stupid enough to get near the animals.

This.

Always assume you have been bitten. I can't believe the lack of awareness about rabies.

Anyone doubting how awful it is - an old 1950's health film of a man from infection to death.

Sadly a lot.

there was a recent case of a young woman who recovered from it. But the odds are definitely not in the a favor of anyone that contracts it.

I would like to know what poor sod went through the symptoms so it could be recorded.
I hope your results come back negative.

Killing bats may be illegal and often not necessary but nobody has gone to jail in the US for killing one.

I meaner the only way to test for rabies is to examine the brain, so the poor creature’s fate is sealed either way.

If you are in the US you are legally required to have health insurance. If you are living in the US as an expat then you would have health insurance through the employer.

You rock up to the ER, pay your copayment and start the rabies series.

Honestly while not a pleasant experience it is what it is.

Yes rabies is a thing here. That’s not news to anyone, surely. Better to treat for it as a precaution than the alternative.

Isnt it illegal to kill them in the USA?

So did you kill it?

If not I hardly think you need to worry about finding a dead bat.

What an idiotic comment.