shiawasseecounty.net

on CH 25 News last night

Rabies stories in both The Independent and The Argus today

Rabies is a deadly virus for humans so if you have direct contact or are bitten by a bat you need call the Shiawassee County Health Department immediately at 743-2356.
For information on bats you can access their website at http://health.shiawassee.net/ehdirect.html

from the Michigan Department of Agriculture webpage search on "rabies 2007"

2007 08 24 - Guardian.indd ... As of August 22, 130 animals have test- ed positive for rabies in 2007. That
figure is up from 49 cases in 2006. See page 3 for more information. ...
www.michigan.gov/documents/mdch/2007_08 ... 6572_7.pdf - 2007-08-24

That's a .pdf file and just too slow for my dialup to handle. Somewhere in there they have a map that shows where the cases have been reported. I've seen it before and they showed it briefly on the CH 25 news story last night.

Alright folks lets not get into a bat killing frenzy here!
from: http://www.batcon.org/home/index.asp?id ... SubPage=62

How dangerous are bats?
Bat rabies accounts for approximately one human death per year in the United States. Thus, some people consider bats to be dangerous. Nevertheless, dogs which often are considered "man's best friend," attack and kill more humans annually than die from bat rabies in a decade. Statistically speaking, pets, playground equipment, and sports are far more dangerous than bats. Clearly, bats do not rank very high among mortality threats to humans. Nevertheless, prudence and simple precautions can save lives.

Who said anything about killing bats?

Reread the first sentence in my post. that is where I said it.

I read it........
Nobody said anything about killing bats....so why the hell are you saying
"Let's not get into a bat killing frenzie." Not even on the agenda.........


We can't prevent every bit of stupidity in the world. Deer are the most dangerous animal to humans in the U.S. What ya gonna do about them?

We can prevent rabies and I believe one of my links (didn't read them, did you?) mentions something like 16,000 to 40,000 people a year are treated to prevent rabies. Little wonder so few die...its called due diligence . Also a link to something about a baby that died and nobody had the bat tested. That could have been prevented.

You just tryin' to "t" me off?

I'm just trying to protect my little bat buddies! Most of the hysteria about bats spreading rabies is way out of proportion to what is really happening.
The figures from your sources are misleading. "Bats have rabies. 40,000 people treated for rabies. The two statements are unrelated. It makes it sound like 40,000 people were bitten by rabid bats. At my wife's hairdresser (there is a rumor mill if there ever was one) some woman was saying if you have bats in the house you have to get rabies shots because they will bite you without you even knowing it. That is ridiculous!! Rabies shots are a painful series of shots over several days and are not necessary unless you KNOW you were bitten by a rabid animal. If one is bitten by any warm blooded mammal, that animal should be watched for 14 days. If the animal dies then it should be tested for rabies. If the animal died from rabies then the bitten person should get the rabies shots. The disease progresses slowly. If the animal that bit someone cannot be found, then the victim should have the rabies shots because you can't wait until you have rabies before starting the treatment. Once the disease sets in it is too late. I don't trust the County Health Department either. They told me that rodents don't get rabies when we know ANY warm blooded mammal can get rabies. If people would stop at stop signs we would save thousands of lives every year. If we killed all the bats in the world we would save one life a year. Now what is the scariest thing, Bats or someone yakking on a cell phone while driving their car around town?

If I get bitten by a bat, I am GOING immediately, forthwith to the EMERGENCY ROOM at Memorial Health Care!! I live less than a mile from it and I AIN'T trusting ANYONE else to get me there!!

As far as calling the health department.... I would probably have a coronary waiting for a phone system to find the right person to talk to.... I MIGHT call the county dispatcher and let THEM decide who to call. IMHO

call 911 (to get somebody to get the bat) you need to get the bat tested

and even the hospital would tell you that, if they cannot prove the bat was not infected they will start the series of shots that are the treatment, also not an emergency treatment. The disease is slow and you don't have to run to the emergency room. A live animal (that bit you) they can observe for 14 days before they do anything. This isn't a panic situation....geesh

but this is from the county's website

CASE STUDY

In February 1995, the aunt of a 4-year-old girl was awakened by the sounds of a bat in the room where the child was sleeping. The child did not wake up until the bat was captured, killed, and discarded. The girl reported no bite, and no evidence of a bite wound was found when she was examined. One month later the child became sick and died of rabies. The dead bat was recovered from the yard and tested - it had rabies.

If anybody wants to panic, get a vaccination. There is one available and some vets get it for themselves, very few people normally do. It isn't a high risk disease and can be avoided with care.

In the meantime, stop at stop signs..........

http://www.batcon.org/home/default.asp

As primary predators of night-flying insects, bats play a vital role in maintaining the balance of nature. A single little brown bat can catch 1,200 mosquito-sized insects in an hour, and big brown bats are important predators of some of America's most costly crop pests. Cucumber beetles, June beetles, bark beetles, stink bugs, leafhoppers, cutworm moths, corn earworm moths, armyworm moths, termites, assassin bugs, ants, roaches, crickets, and grasshoppers are just some of the many pests known to be consumed by America's bats. Yet, bat populations are in alarming decline due to decades of unwarranted human fear and persecution.

Worldwide, more than 30,000 humans die from rabies each year, and 99 percent of these deaths are due to contact with rabid dogs. In modern countries, where most dogs and cats are now vaccinated against rabies, the disease is rare in humans. For example, only about one person per year contracts rabies in the U.S. Dog bites remain the most frequent cause for vaccination in North America, but fatalities more often result from contact with wildlife, which is less likely to be reported and treated.

Inexplicably, a strain believed to be associated with the silver-haired bat (Lasionycteris noctivagans), based on monoclonal antibody tests, now accounts for the majority of all North American human rabies cases. How this rare transmission occurs remains a mystery, since silver-haired bats seldom contact people and do not form colonies in buildings or bat houses. Such cases typically cannot be traced to any known exposure.

The good news is that the North American bat species most frequently found in our homes or bat houses, big and little brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus and Myotis lucifugus), are not known to have caused a single case of human rabies in the past 15 years.

Does anyone know of an affordable "bat service" in the Owosso area to prevent them from entering the house? Preferably someone willing to give a free estimate.

They seem to get into my moms house quite often. I'd say it would average to at least 5 a year.

Look under "Pest Control" or "Animal Removal Services"in the yellow pages. There are three or four businesses that claim to remove bats. There is a white van, I've seen around town that has "Bat Control" or "Bat Mobile" that claims to remove bats. I've read articles on how Bats can be controlled by providing "Bat Houses" near possible entrances which should be closed or covered if found. Bats outside? Good! Bats inside the house? BAD! All funning aside, you don't want bats inside the house, you should never handle a dead or live bat, and if bitten by ANY mammal which cannot be quarantined, you must get the shots. Thanks Rolo for the very good information.

Don't forget....AFTER you've gotten rid of the bats in your home, hire a trained professional to come in and thoroughly clean the area where the bats formerly resided....

Histoplasmosis is a nasty respiratory infection that humans can get from exposure to bat guano..... In some instances, it can be fatal:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/articl ... ehind.html

I have to admit, that I am flabbergasted over the conflicting news reports concerning Bats and rabies. Bats have been maligned for so long, I am skeptical of every report we see like this one from the Muskegon Chronicle today:

State urges rabies shots for pets, farm animals
Posted by llupo September 08, 2007 09:17AM

A high rate of rabies cases in West Michigan and across the state this year has state agriculture officials urging residents to vaccinate their pets, livestock and horses.

State officials had documented 170 cases of rabies in animals so far this year. That compares to 49 cases in animals in 2006.

The vast majority of animals that have tested positive are bats.

State health officials don't know what is behind the increase in cases, although some experts say rabies may be cyclical.

The reported rabies cases in animals are scattered across much of the Lower Peninsula.

In one source that Kaylor provided, they said cases of Bat rabies rose 2.6% in the state. Another accused bats of a majority of rabies cases but the Bats named were not the species that live in Michigan.
I still would hate to see a case of Bat hysteria when there are so many other things that we should fear more. One human death per year from rabies but 200,000 plus deaths related to the use of tobacco products. Now that should scare you much more than Bats.

I thought it was rather bold to announce "U.S. canine rabies free", like that means anything. All them other critters got it and the only reason the canines don't is because people put a lot of effort into vaccinating and keeping stray dogs under control. The canines are just a hair away from it. Much too precarious a position to be claiming any kind of "free".

Of course it is cyclical. What would make anyone think anything else. A few years ago there was an outbreak in Canada. They dropped bait laden with vaccine for the coyotes to help curb it. Must have worked.

There are bats in Michigan that have been confirmed with rabies. I can't say anything for whoever named any particular species of bat. But nobody is going "bat hysterical". Your little bat buddies are as safe as nature will allow them to be (including rabies as a natural thing).

You only count the one death. Well, there is only one death because of the efforts of many to identify and diagnose what bit them and seek treatment. That is a significant number. That we can also cure with a few shots. There just ain't no cure for stupidity. You should know that.