Bat Tests Positive for Rabies in Walworth County; Precautions Described

Posted on: June 28, 2023

Editor’s note: The following press release was received from the Walworth County Health & Human Services Department.

On June 20, 2023, the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene (WSLH) confirmed a positive rabies test for a bat from Walworth County. This is the first rabid bat identified in the county this year. Human rabies is now rare in the United States; the last case of human rabies in Wisconsin occurred in 2010, according to the Wisconsin Department of Health
Services.

Rabies is a viral disease affecting the central nervous system. It is transmitted from infected
mammals to humans and is invariably fatal once symptoms appear. Human rabies is rare in the
United States, averaging about two to three cases per year. Although people typically acquire
rabies from the bite of an infected animal, the virus can also be transmitted by a claw scratch, or
by saliva from a rabid animal that comes in contact with an open wound or with a mucous
membrane.

For this reason, persons should be considered potentially exposed to rabies if they have had
physical contact with a bat and a bite or scratch cannot be ruled out. A common example of this
would be a cyclist who is struck by a bat while riding. Additionally, a bat that is found in the
same room as a person who cannot rule out physical contact with the animal may also constitute a potential rabies exposure. This would include a sleeping person, an unattended child or someone who is intoxicated.

Persons who sustain any animal bite or experience the type of bat exposures described above
should notify local law enforcement, humane society, family physician or health department as
soon as possible for evaluation as a possible rabies exposure.

Pet owners can help prevent rabies transmission by getting their dogs, cats, or ferrets vaccinated for rabies, even those that do not go outside. Indoor pets can still be exposed to rabid bats that find their way into living areas. Additionally, if an unvaccinated dog, cat, or ferret bites a person, the animal will be ordered into an isolation facility for a 10-day observation period—at the owner’s expense. Parents should also warn children to never handle a bat (or any other wild animal).

Keeping bats out of living areas can significantly reduce the potential for rabies exposure to
residents and their pets. Most bats enter homes and apartments through an open or loose fitting door or an attic, open unscreened window, unscreened chimney, or gaps in an outside wall, fascia, or soffit. Animal control professionals, pest control professionals and bat exclusion
professionals can be consulted to address these problems. Bat exclusion professionals, according
to Bat Conservation International, are insured and licensed in the states they serve and use
approved bat exclusion methods. For more information, visit their website at www.batcon.org.
Additional information about rabies can be obtained from the CDC’s website at
http://www.cdc.gov/rabies/ or from the Wisconsin Division of Public Health’s Rabies Fact Sheet, which can be viewed at www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/publications/p4/p42081.pdf.

For more information about bats, rabies control, reporting and treatment, please contact
Walworth County Public Health at (262) 741-3200.