Posted on 08/06/2006 8:33:56 AM PDT by nuconvert
For a week his dad would come and pick him up near the end of the school day. The poor kid was just about in tears every time they called for him to report to the office for dismissal.
I don't have a lot of experience with bats. But it seems to me that it would be hard to catch one. An easy to catch bat that isn't struggling, biting, etc. may be more likely to be sick.
We have bats around here and last summer one was flying over my kids' heads' while they swam in our pool, in the middle of the day. It landed on a low leaf and we watched it awhile. A couple of days later, it turned up dead in the pool skimmer. I have learned since then that such unusual behavior on the part of a bat likely indicates sickness.
Having been pursued by Girl Scouts at cookie time, I suggest that a rabies vaccine should be mandatory for all Girl Scouts everywhere..
Not really. Bats are small enough that you may not even know if you get bitten. I found that out when I was a little kid, vacationing in NY at my father's (how small they are, not that I got bitten - I've heard that you might not notice). One morning I told him that there was something in my room that had been flying around, but he assured me that it was a bad dream. Well, I was determined to find it, and when I did, I called him in and he freaked out. The little critter was in the curtains, and about the size of a modern flip phone.
The problem is that once you show symptoms of rabies, it's too late to do anything about it. Much better to be safe than sorry. I recall reading here not too long ago about a boy who died of rabies.
Mark
What sort of idiots are they hiring for counselors?
"Oh look, I caught a bat. Who wants to touch it?"
Lol. That was my thought too. What an idiot
There are literally millions of Mexican Free-tail bats in colonies all around my area. They are great to have around, because they eat their weight in mosquitoes every night.
I am also in an area with periodic rabies outbreaks.
I was taught from an early age, if you can touch a bat, it is probably sick. If you touch one and you cannot have it tested for rabies, then you will be getting rabies vaccine shots.
I don't understand the shots if you are not bitten or come into contact with the saliva of a bat. CYA if you ask me.
By the time any one of those girls exhibits symptoms of rabies, it will be too late. Anyone with symptomatic rabies will die.
If the counsellor was able to catch the bat, it was almost certainly sick.
Depends on whether he whacked it with a broom or whatever and it was captured that way.
Oh blech. I've seen a college student get that rabies series after being around a rabid horse (horse bitten by a coyote or something).
Those injections are painful. And given in the abdomen. They can leave a reddened area that stays for several days. I've forgotten how many injections are in the series but it's several.
What a nightmare for these girls, leaders and the families. I wouldn't know what to do. sheesh.
Bat bites can be very tiny and almost unnoticeable. You can be bit and not even wake up. This undoubtedly CYA but it is still a good idea.
And my sympathy to the girls. Do you still have to get them in the stomach I wonder?
Well if that is the case, shouldn't we all just get rabies shots, in case bats have bitten us and we didn't even notice? You can never be too careful!
I hope not :(
Me too. Even after over twenty years the memory still makes me cringe.
A teenage boy just died here in Houston of rabies. He awoke and found a dead bat in his room or maybe in his bed, I can't remember the details. Terrible tragedy but it could have been avoided with shots.
I thought the incubation period for rabies was two weeks.
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