by JEN BIUNDO
The city of Buda has issued a public health alert after a live bat in the Whispering Hollow neighborhood tested positive for rabies. Anyone who thinks they or their pets may have had contact with the bat should seek treatment, city officials said.
Buda Animal Control Officer Jennifer Bannach said she received a call Friday morning from a home-owner on Clear Springs Hollow reporting that they found a grounded bat in their backyard, and their dogs had contact with the ailing animal. Using a garden tool, they moved the bat to the front yard.
When Bannach arrived on the scene, the bat already had died from the disease. She sent it to the Texas Department of Health for testing, and received the call Monday that the bat had tested positive for rabies. The dogs, who were current on their rabies shots, are now in quarantine, Bannach said.
“The rabies vaccination isn’t a guarantee that they aren’t going to get it,” Bannach said.
Hays County reported just two cases of rabies in 2009, three cases in 2008 and two cases in 2007, all in bats.
Between 1950 and 2009, the U.S. has seen 205 cases of rabies in humans, averaging about two per year in the last decade. The disease is spread through the saliva of infected animals, and any warm-blooded mammal is at risk for rabies if they are bitten by an animal with rabies, or if they are exposed to infected saliva on a scratch or cut.
Rabies has an extensive incubation period of weeks or even months, and no human who has received the post-exposure vaccine against rabies has ever gone on to contract the disease. However, once a human begins showing clinical signs of rabies, there is no cure and the patient typically dies.
If a domestic animal is attacked by a wild animal that either tests positive for rabies or cannot be captured, then the cat or dog is placed in quarantine for 45 days and given rabies vaccination booster shots. If the domestic animal is not vaccinated against rabies, then the shots are initiated and the animal is quarantined for 90 days.
“If we can’t find the wildlife, we want to err on the side of caution,” Bannach said.
Debra Mahan, a Hays County Personal Health Department nurse who specializes in epidemiology, noted that rabies is always present in some percentage in the native bat population. Parents should stress to their children that they should not touch bats, she said.
If a wild animal allows you to get close enough to touch it, that likely means that the animal is injured or sick, possibly with rabies, Bannach said. If a nocturnal animal such as a bat is out during the day,that may also signal illness.
If you think you or your pet was exposed to rabies, immediately clean the site of the bite with soap and water and seek medical attention.
For more information or to report a wild animal that you think may have rabies, call the city of Buda Animal Control at 312-2876 or the Hays County Health Department at 393-5525.
Possible signs of rabies in wild animals
• unprovoked aggression (“furious” rabies)
• unusual friendliness (“dumb” rabies)
• paralysis, often starting in the hind legs or throat
• unusual vocalizations, such as chattering or screaming
• unusual behavior, such as nocturnal animals active during the day
• animal may stumble, appear disoriented or wander aimlessly
• animal may drool, giving the appearance of frothing at the mouth
