The resolution concerning bats and rabies was adopted October, 2004.
BE IT RESOLVED on this 30th day of October 2004 that researchers gathered at the 34th Annual North American Symposium on Bat Research are concerned about public misperceptions regarding undetected bites from bats, and the negative consequences for bats that are generated by those misperceptions.
Cases of rabies in humans in the United States and Canada are extremely rare. Data from the U.S. indicate that most human rabies infections occur because victims are bitten and either do not realize the risk of being bitten or trivialize the wound. No animal bite should be trivialized.
In our collective experience, bat bites cause sufficient pain to be readily detected, and if bitten by a bat, people will be aware of the bite. However, under certain circumstances (e. g., deep sleep, intoxication, illness or mental incapacity, or being a child too young to recognize or relate the history of exposure), the minor trauma and wound may not be recognized as a bat bite and could also go untreated.
We are concerned that people receiving bat bites sometimes do not seek medical attention. We are also concerned that the media and local public health agencies frequently overreact to incidental bat exposure, causing unnecessary eradication of bats or treatment of people not bitten by bats. This results in actions and public perceptions that are costly to people, detrimental to bats, and provide no additional protection against rabies.
We support:
1. education efforts regarding the human health risks associated with bat rabies that reflect the best scientific evidence available,
2. scientific and epidemiological reports and guidelines that are written to be easily understood by the average person, and
3. continuing efforts to develop a national database of rabies exposures, treatments, and outcomes.
We recognize the need for reasonable precautions against rabies. We support public education about bats and rabies that:
1. cautions to never handle bats or other wild animals;
2. warns to practice appropriate first aid measures and seek immediate medical evaluation, which may include post-exposure prophylaxis, of any actual or suspected animal bite; and
3. places the risks of human infection in perspective, without trivializing the serious nature of the disease.
