Rabid Bat Bites Child: Girl Attacked By Bat In Washington, Needs ‘Painful’ Rabies Vaccines For Weeks
A rabid bat bites a child in Washington state and is said to be the first rabid bat in Spokane County in 18 years. According to KREM, a young girl named Jaleigh was with her mom, Jennifer, at the Liberty Lake Regional Park over the weekend. The two had been checking out some wildlife in the area when someone noticed a bat in a tree. Not thinking much of it, Jaleigh and Jennifer looked at the bat and saw it fly away.
Moments later, however, the bat returned. Jaleigh started screaming as the bat swooped down and bit her thigh.
“It didn’t want to come off. Its fangs wouldn’t come off. Its little talons and legs came off pretty easily, but his teeth would not let go,” Jennifer recalled.
After a few long seconds, the bat unclenched its teeth.
The rabid bat was caught after biting the child. Jennifer brought Jaleigh to the doctor to treat the bite, and once the bat tested positive for rabies, doctors informed her that her daughter would need to be vaccinated every week for a month. Jennifer was also told that she will need to be vaccinated as a precaution. These vaccines are said to be “painful.”
A photo of Jennifer an Jaleigh leaving the hospital after getting their rabies shots @KHQLocalNews pic.twitter.com/hvpwbZ46QQ
— Katie Chen (@KHQKatieChen) July 8, 2015
According to KHQ, a group of people who weren’t with Jennifer and Jaleigh caught the bat but say that they didn’t have any skin contact with it. Even still, health officials have advised that they all seek medical attention, just to be on the safe side.
“Rabies is a preventable disease caused by a virus that people and other mammals can get through the bite of a rabid animal. It is almost always fatal without proper treatment with vaccines soon after exposure. Although rare, transmission may also occur if the saliva from a rabid animal comes in contact with a person’s eyes, nose, mouth or open wound. Symptoms of rabies in people can take weeks to months to develop after exposure to a rabid animal.”
Aside from this rabid bat biting the child, another bat with rabies attacked a man in September of last year. As previously reported by the Inquisitr, Derrick Skou was camping in Oregon when he was bit.
“This thing came out of nowhere. I was thinking it was a good day until then. Something hit me. I was concentrating on staying in time and all that, and it hit me here, and I kind of saw something out of my peripheral vision. And then it’s there, and then it just bit me,” said Skou.
He sought treatment and was expected to be okay.
[Photo via Wikimedia Commons]
