The Lake County Health Department/Community Health Center continues to urge Lake County residents to avoid contact with bats and ensure pets’ rabies vaccinations are up to date. The third bat was found in Waukegan on June 15. The fourth bat was found in Deerfield on June 17. Both bats tested positive for rabies. There was no human contact with either bat, but contact between the third bat and a pet dog has not been ruled out. These are the third and fourth bats that tested positive for rabies in Lake County this year. Last year, nine bats tested positive.
“Thankfully the dog involved with this incident is up to date on its rabies vaccination,” said Dale Galassie, the Health Department’s executive director. “We appreciate the role that residents are playing in notifying us about suspect bats and keeping their communities safe. We’d like to remind them to keep their pets safe as well.”
County ordinance requires all cats and dogs to have proof of current rabies vaccinations. Even indoor pets need to be protected against rabies because exposure is possible even inside the home.
Rabies is an almost always fatal disease that affects the nervous system of humans and other mammals. However, this disease is fully preventable with prophylaxis. Most commonly, people get rabies from the bite of a rabid animal. In other cases, people can contract rabies if any infectious material from a rabid animal, such as saliva, comes in contact with one’s nose, mouth, an open wound or gets directly into the eyes.
The Health Department is urging anyone who has direct contact with a bat or notices a bat acting in an unusual manner, such as flying in daylight or lying on the ground or in your home, to contact the Health Department at 847-949-9925. If the bat is inside of your house, do not chase it away because it may be needed for rabies testing.
Close the doors and keep people away from the room where the bat is located. Trained animal wardens will remove the bat at no cost to the resident or refer the caller to the appropriate jurisdiction. Health officials are urging residents to avoid touching, hitting or destroying bats. When dead bats are submitted to state labs for rabies testing, they need to be undamaged.
Parents should make sure children know that they should never touch a bat that is lying on the ground. The bat may not be dead, just ill, and could bite. Pet owners should be on the alert for bats near their homes, because pets that spend time outdoors can easily come into contact with these animals. If a rabid animal bites a pet, the pet may, in turn, bite a person, transmitting rabies to that individual. Rabies can be avoided in pets by vaccination, which is why a rabies vaccination is required for dogs and cats.
Last year, nine bats tested positive in Lake County. In this county, bats are the only animals that have tested positive for rabies over the past 20 years. While bats can transmit rabies, they are also beneficial animals. Some species can eat up to 600 insects in an hour. Besides mosquitoes, bats eat crop-destroying pests, such as moths, locusts and grasshoppers.
