AIBU to worry after a possible bat hit my forehead?

[OneQuickCoralQuoter]

Hi all, this evening I decided to go for a walk as I’m struggling with my MH and anxiety - namely health anxiety. I was walking down a quiet street past a hedge when I felt something impact the side of my forehead. I was confused and thought something had been thrown at me but it appeared something flew off past me very quickly. I didn’t see what it was but due to the time I’m going to guess it was a bat.

My skin has no bleeding or wounds and I don’t think I was bitten or scratched by it.

However, I’m now completely beside myself. Google is telling me to call 111 for rabies advice but I text a few family members about it who seem to think it’s just funny and this is an over reaction, and my partner thinks the same.

i have extreme health anxiety so this is just a complete nightmare to me.

AIBU to panic over this?

Calmly phone 111.

A bat did not break the skin so Rabies would not be a factor.

Try to relax.

Have a shower then sit in a comfortable chair and chill out by reading Henny Penny. Then lie on the carpet and listen to Meatloaf - A Bat Out of Hell.

Amazing how many people on this thread are confidently giving advice that goes against the official uk recommendations.

Maybe it's the number of bat threads recently where no bat was actually witnessed. Clearly I'm doomed to die of lyssavirus myself, because if I leave the window open overnight, I will assume that no bat came in. Same applies to car windows. If I didn't see a bat, I'm not worrying.

If something I didn't see bumped into my head on a walk, I'd assume it was a moth. Incidentally, the last time something like that happened, it was squirrel faeces from a squirrel on a branch overhead.

If someone was with me and could assure me they'd seen a bat, I would only concern myself with lyssavirus if I felt it bite me. Why would I get rabies from its wing brushing my head? Fortunately I have life insurance.

Monitor for signs of rabies?
Once there are symtoms, you are literally dead.
Nothing can be done for you

You’ve got no cuts of abrasions and you don’t even know that it was actually a bat, it could have just been a big moth.
Calm down.

You cant see if youve been scratched by a bat. They are that tiny

You wont know. Bats are tiny. You wont see the scratch

But can you not feel it if you're fully awake? The OP was awake and alert on a walk, and she hasn't mentioned having any condition that causes dulled sensation.

It's a myth that bats don't bump into people or each other all the time. Humans are less likely because we're so big and obvious, but it's the season for youngsters learning to fly and hunt on their own, and it does happen.

(I am an ecologist and wrote another comment about bats earlier in the thread. The long and short is OP still doesn't need to worry even if she did get bopped.)

So many bat experts are on this thread.

You grow up, rude woman.

Well maybe, oooo, I dunno, call 111 for rabies assessment? Or don't, and keep attention seeking. Up to you really.

Funny how I can see the marks left by a mosquito bite or horsefly bite when their mouthparts are around 20 times smaller than the teeth or claws of even our smallest bat.

You may struggle to find the wound if a bat climbed in your hair and scratched you, or up your back where you can't see but the idea that bats teeth/claws are SO tiny that you cannot see the wounds, there is no visible broken skin and yet the risk of infection is significant is RIDICULOUS.

I have handled bats on multiple occasions, had them chew on a glove etc, the hysteria here is absolutely astonishing.

And in any case the chances of a bat hitting you at all whilst walking around outside (vs say, squeezing through a cave full of bats all leaving en masse or through a loft space with a bat roost in it) is next to nil - the culprit will be a moth or a large beetle, not a bat.

They carry a similar type of virus which is highly unlikely to be transmissible to humans.

I'd be more worried about foxes or people coming to the UK with unvaccinated dogs- unfortunately there are vets abroad who will sell you a certificate without a vaccine.

I do know what I'm talking about, my dad was a vet and the local area rabies officer.

Chicken Licken vibes ...

I've just seen this thread and came here to look for this! Once upon a time on Mumsnet, this would be the very first response to this thread
Sorry you got a fright OP, and hope you're feeling ok now.

this happened to someone last time i went to A & E, no idea what the result was