STORY TOOLS

• E-mail story
• iPod friendly
• Printer friendly

Related Links

• Web: Check out Florida Fish and Wildlife's section on bats
• Web: Check out Florida Bat Conservancy's Web site

More Environment

• South Florida Watershed Journal: The hare that breaks the camel's back
• Rookery Bay’s efforts to protect threatened sea turtles result in increased hatchling success
• Mold, mosquitoes among Fay’s parting gifts

Share and Enjoy [?]

Some people think bats are cute critters, while others shiver at the thought of even seeing one.

But for nine people in Lee County, they learned the hard way that any bat lying on the ground is an ill one and could expose a person to rabies.

“The bottom line is, over the last six weeks we have had to immunize nine people because they have handled bats that have been found on the ground,” said Bob South, an epidemiologist with the Lee County Health Department. “All of that could have been avoided had they not handled a wild animal they found in the street or in their yard. If you find a bat on the ground, leave it alone. If it is dead, pick it up with a shovel and bury it.”

Two of the three bats tested positive for rabies. The third could not be tested because it had been buried, South said.

“Bats are the number one carrier of rabies in Florida,” he said. And rabies is fatal for those who don’t seek immediate vaccination.

“There is no treatment,” South said.

The first incident where people — including children — needed rabies shots was in May near McGregor Boulevard in south Fort Myers.

The second incident, which occurred this month again near McGregor Boulevard, involved a man handling a bat he had found.

“It chewed on his hand,” South said. The man buried the bat and had to receive the rabies vaccine.

Also in June, three people near Longfellow Drive in North Fort Myers handled a bat that tested positive for rabies. The people now are undergoing rabies shots.

Only two known instances of a human developing rabies have shown a positive outcome. One was in 1970 in Ohio when a 6-year-old boy bitten by a rabid bat survived.

The other was in 2004 after a 15-year-old girl picked up a bat and was bitten. Her mother treated it with hydrogen peroxide and did not seek medical treatment. After she developed neurological problems 37 days later, her mother took her for treatment. She spent months in the hospital recovering.

“You have to start treatment within 14 days. After 14 days, there is no guarantee it will work,” South said.

After a person is bitten, it usually takes about 10 to 14 days for the saliva to work into the nervous system, he said.

Wearing gloves won’t even protect a person from a possible bite. Many times, South says, people don’t even realize they have been bitten by a bat because their teeth are so small and sometimes don’t leave marks.

“Mosquito bites hurt more,” he said.

The symptoms of rabies exposure include problems with vision, swallowing and motor actions. A person may feel dizzy and have difficulty walking.

“Once you start getting symptoms, it’s too late,” South said.

Bats live in palm trees, fruit trees, attics and many other places. They are nocturnal, coming out at night to feed on insects.

Mark Kiser, who has 17 years experience researching bats, said the mammals are beneficial because they eat insects. Some eat mosquitoes, while others are known to eat moths, earworms and army worms, and one is known to eat the Japanese beetle, which is known to feed on turf, landscapes and ornamental plants, destroying them.

“(Bats) are very beneficial as far as consuming insects,” said Kiser, who is coordinator of the Great Florida Birding Trail and completed his master’s thesis on bats.

Twenty species of bats are known in Florida: 13 resident ones and seven considered accidental species, said Cindy Marks, who is with the Florida Bat Conservancy in Bay Pines near St. Petersburg.

Marks said the May incident involved a Brazilian free-tailed bat, a native Florida species, which is the most abundant in Lee County. The evening bat is the second-most abundant in the county, she said.

She had not yet received reports for June and could not say which bats were responsible. The health department did not have the information.

In 2007 in Lee County, the health department recommended 83 people receive rabies shots. Two incidents involved bats, according to data provided by Judi Spann, communications director for the state Department of Health. Statewide, 1,476 people were recommended for rabies shots involving 131 bats.

However, those numbers do not include people who went to a private physician for treatment.

Data for this year was not immediately available.

Marks said the incidence of bats carrying rabies is a small percentage of the thousands of bats out there. Of the bats they have examined, between 9 percent and 10 percent test positive for rabies, she said.

South said people need to be aware of all wildlife possibly being carriers of rabies, but warned a domestic animal is more to blame for humans needing rabies vaccines in Lee County.

“Our number one exposure is people trying to feed feral cats,” South said. “Last year, we did over 1,000 investigations for animal bites.”

For information on bats, go to www.MyFWC.com/CRITTERS/bats.htm or www.floridabats.com.

---

E-mail Valli Finney at vallimfinney@yahoo.com