Unfortunate things, facts, aren’t they Steve?
What:
That some British bats are a reservoir of European Bat Lyssaviruses ?
A small number of coronaviruses have been found in a few of our bat species?
A Scottish bat worker died from rabies in 2002.In the case mentioned, the contracting agency, Scottish Natural Heritage was served with two ‘improvement notices’ by the Health and Safety Executive. Vaccination is now compulsory for all those employed to work on bats in the UK, including students.It is further compulsory for all those licensed to handlebats, including volunteers, and for bat rehabilitators, with vaccine either provided gratis by the Department of Health or by the employer where one is identified. (3 injections approx.£200)
The cost ofthe same in the US is scary.
Bat lyssaviruses appear transmissible to all mammals, including humans where they all cause rabies (i.e. serious and invariably fatal disease in the absence of post-exposure treatment). In common with all other lyssaviruses there is no treatment for rabies caught from bats once clinical signs appear and so prevention of infection and immediate post-exposure treatment is vital.