The Kane County Animal Control Department then submitted the bat to the Illinois Department of Public Health for rabies testing, and the positive test was determined.
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The Illinois Department of Public Health is warning the public to be on the lookout for rabid bats and animals this summer.
The numbers are small. Authorities recently said that rabid bats were found inside homes in Arlington Heights, Aurora and LaGrange and two more were discovered on Chicago’s South Side.
“Lack of referral to guidance concerning health risks associated with bats living in the home was possibly a missed opportunity to prevent rabies infection”, public health officials noted. She says officials are always vigilant about rabid bats but the increased number this year is worth publicizing.
Meanwhile, a bat caught in Arlington Heights tested positive for rabies. Bats are becoming more active with warm weather so the possibility of exposure is increasing. Across Illinois, small and big brown bats often nest in attics, and with a skull about the size of a dime, can get into a home through tiny openings. She swatted it away and washed her hand before going to bed. Her husband captured the bat with gloved hands and released it outside. Had the woman visited the doctor earlier, she could have been saved and the exposure to other people could have been contained.
The elderly woman reportedly woke up in the middle of the night disturbed by a bat on her neck. The second bat was found Monday in the 1800 block of West 105th Street in Beverly, according to Chicago’s Department of Animal Care and Control. Lack of awareness on potential risk of rabies by bats caused the family to lose a life. Never adopt wild animals, bring them into your home, or try to nurse sick, wild animals to health.
The bat was found in a room surrounded by the family’s three house cats. “The felines will have to be quarantined for six months due to their exposures”. That means even an indoor cat may come into contact with a bat.
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Although rabies is usually fatal by the time symptoms appear, few human cases are reported each year in the United States.
