Sonoma County Warns on Rabid Bats After 17% Rise in U.S. Rabies Inquiries

1 articles · Updated · The Santa Rosa Press Democrat · Sep 12

Sonoma County health officials told residents not to touch dead or dying bats and to seek medical evaluation after any close contact, warning rabies is almost always fatal once symptoms appear.
The alert follows a CDC notice that rabies-related inquiries nationwide rose 17% in July and August from a year earlier, reflecting increased animal rabies activity and human exposures.
Two Sonoma youths earlier this year touched dead or dying bats that later tested positive for rabies; both received treatment and vaccination and did not develop symptoms.
Bats dominate the local risk: 70 of Sonoma County’s 74 rabid animals since 2013 were bats, while the county typically records four or five animal rabies cases a year without the spikes now flagged nationally.