I need to be told I'm being ridiculous. Rabies/ bats?

[Anxiouspotat0]

Hi.
So, I go abroad on friday for two weeks.
Yesterday I woke with a weird.mark on my hand. I google lensed it to be told it looks like a bat bite. I measured it and it is the right size. IGoogle of course recommended a full course of post rabies exposure vaccines as bats arre the only.animal in the UK that cam carry a rabies like virus.

Here's the thing. I walk the dogs of an evening. There are sometimes bats around flying overhead but I.am confident I would have noticed one stopping to land on my hand (apparently they don't bite mid flight and have to anchor theirselves). It's the hand I hold the dog lead with. To my knowledge (I am confident) one never got anywhere near close. Which leaves one flying in through a window and biting me in my sleep (google says you'd always find a bat in the room, there is 0 evidence of any bat) I also have dogs that bark if a spider farts so if a bat was in tbe room surely they' have woke me up.

I'm waiting for the GP to get back to me (111 told me to send them a photo) .Obviously rabies is 100% fatal and not something to mess with. BUT if I do the jabs which are 4 jabs over 28 days, I will have to either not go away (it is incredibly important to me, it isnt a regular.holiday and I can't reschedule it) or source 1/2 jabs in the US which insurance would not cover. Tens of tbousands of debt which I cannot afford. All on the slight chance a bat somehow entered my home, bit me, and left with0 trace, and when only 0.5% of tested bats even carry the virus even if it was a bat bite.

I don't even know if the NHS would recommend thr jabs given I was never directly near a bat or found a bat in a room, but I'm just stressed as hell, please be gentle. But I'm hoping to be told that you regular unanxious people would just assume a spider bite or anything else and go about their lives without worrying about rabies. I am a super anxious person as you can surely tell.

Thanks if you made it this far.

Hmmm this might sound silly but do you have any bracelets or anything on your other wrist that you may have leaned on when sleeping that could have left that mark? I’d be very surprised if a bat had bitten without you knowing. Does it hurt?

it doesn’t look punctured? Or even like a bit would be? Does it hurt?

A bat cornered us in a restaurant once. Trust me we knew about it. What a clatter!
I think your dogs would be aware too

Is it punctured? It doesn’t look it?

How would a bat bite bite your palm though?

To me that looks like an indentation from sleeping on a small object, not a bat bite. Google lens can't answer this one for you, you need to work out the most likely cause not the scariest one

I agree the skin doesn’t look broken

I've got exactly the same mark but underneath the next finger along. Had it years and I am still not foaming at the mouth.

The skin isnt obviously broken but google did say many bites don't leave visible marks/ their teeth are so fine tbey don't always break the skin

But I agree, the chance of it being a rabid bat are absolutely miniscule and not worth ruining my trip, I know this, Ijust need to turn my anxiety off.

No obvious cause as to it (likr a bracelet or anything)

It’s a very odd mark. Has it punctured the skin? Had you been gripping the lead with anything else in your hand? There is no redness in the picture which you would expect with an insect bite? I really have no idea about bat bites but I didn’t think they left a mark? I do have a (slightly irrational in the uk), fear of them flying in the window and biting me whilst I am asleep! so I can sympathise with your anxiety. Have you checked the room you are sleeping in for any bats? and are you in a country where this is likely to happen? Is there a local medical center where you can get it looked at? Hopefully somebody will be along soon with some more helpful advice. Maybe a uk based bat charity could advise on the specifics?

Can I see? Sorry. Not what you expected to be asked before 8am today

We don't have vampire bats (the ones that feed off mammals) in the UK - the only way a bat is ever going to bite you is if it feels threatened, eg if you've picked it up. It's not a bat bite. You've just leaned on something in your sleep - zip on a pillow maybe?

I'm england,.midlands. just waiting doctors to get back. I have seen some pictures of spider bites that look similar but they tend to be more scabby looking. But then so do the bat bites I have seen! And no they don't always leave a mark at all. If it was anywhere else on my body I wouldn't have even noticed in all likelyhood. No pain at all

I have googled bat bites and they all show red puncture wounds. This looks nothing like that.

The angle is completely wrong for a bite. If a bat had landed on you without you noticing, and that's a fairly big "if", surely the bites would be parallel on the side of your hand.

I WAS definitely bitten by a bat (it was in my hand at the time) and did the whole post exposure vaccination course. I felt the bite but there were no visible marks, which apparently is typical for UK bats because their teeth are so small - I did talk to experts about this at the time. Therefore I question whether your mark is a bite, because I don't think you'd expect to see it. I also doubt that medical staff will know one way or the other, they are not wildlife experts. I think it's not at all likely that a bat would randomly bite you during a walk, they would know where you were and avoid you. Public Health England are the people to speak to if you need further advice, if you are able to get through to them.

No bats found inside and I am confident my dogs would have gone mad barking if one was crashing about, hence why I know im being ridiculous.

Sorry to hear that. Were you handling it? Edit: duh I just saw it was in your hand! Sorry I am half asleep

You would know if you'd been bitten by a bat.

We get them in the house periodically (old thatched house next to woods) and they DO NOT like being inside and make a lot of fuss then hide behind the radiator!

They don't go near humans if they can absolutely help it.

False widow spider bites leave a puncture mark like this in the uk. But it would have swelled into a blister by now.

I don't think it's possible to be unknowingly bitten on the palm by a bat.

Measuring the gap between the dents that would be a spider the size of a pigeon. Their fangs are really small. Just get the doctor to check if you are panicking, but I suspect the dents will be gone by the time the appointment rolls around.
Ps. Please let us know...curiosity is piqued.

Found this if it can help :

While it is theoretically possible for a bat to bite a sleeping person if it lands on them and feels trapped, it is extremely rare in the UK. British bats are small, non-aggressive, and prefer to avoid humans entirely. They do not seek out people to bite.
Perhaps seek anxiety treatment.

It"s 3mm which works for spiders and bats apparently

Thank you, I thought so too, especially with two barky dogs that barely sleep.

So you would just go about your day?

You would know if a bat flew into your room at night and bit you. It would be flapping about in the room and it would hurt.You would know if a bat flew into your hand and bit you while you were walking the dog. It doesn’t look like a bat bite compared to Google images.