Subject: Re: bats and rabies
Date: Sep 26 15:01:55 1997
From: Kelly Mcallister - mcallkrm at dfw.wa.gov


Steve Mansfield wrote:

> I would also be interested to find out if *all* bats are capable of passing
> rabies. Rabbits, for example, can contract, but are incapable of passing
> it.

There is a book by Danny Brass (I believe) called (I think) "The Natural
History of Rabies". I didn't read all of it. However, there are apparently
two reservoirs of rabies in Pacific Northwest bats, the Silver-haired bat
(Lasionycteris noctivagans) and the Big Brown Bat (Eptesicus fuscus).
Laboratories can determine whether the virus in a victim came from one
or the other species (we are fortunate here in the Pacific Northwest in
that bats are the only reservoir for the rabies virus. It's not carried by
skunks, raccoons, or foxes....yet. If a dog gets rabies out here, they
get it from a bat but I believe they can pass it to a human before they die).

I am not sure exactly what this "reservoir" thing is all about. It seems to
mean that Big Brown and Silver-haired bats can carry the virus without
it harming them. They can pass it on to other animals who get sick and die.
Presumably, then, another bat species might get it from a Big Brown or
Silver-haired bat and pass it along before dying. If anyone has the ability
to shed additional light on this issue, I would sure appreciate it.

Also, the little girl in Centralia who died of rabies in 1995 was the first
death from rabies in Washington since 1939. Unfortunately, earlier this
year a retired gentleman in Shelton also died of bat-type rabies. So,
human deaths from rabies are extremely rare here. In wild bats, the
occurrence of rabies is quite rare, probably on the order of about 1 bat
in 1,000. Nevertheless, I wouldn't handle bats without gloves.

Kelly McAllister