Batter Up?

I'm sick to death of bats.

With any luck, that statement will not prove true in a matter of weeks or months.

See, depending on who you talk to, sleeping with the bat (and I don't mean Batman or the baseball variety) means you *must* get rabies vaccinations.

A week ago and some days, we spent an weekend at a friend's place Up North. We had an unexpected guest overnight in the bedroom. Paranoia set in after my husband found an online article about a Michigan family who found a bat in their child's room, and they were all getting vaccinated.

The CDC web site likes to hedge its bets, telling you to "seek medical advice" if you've awakened to find a bat flapping about your room.

The local health departments will tell you that rabies vaccines are a must because you won't always know if you've been bitten.

Your family physician may tell you otherwise, depending on the incident, because you'd definitely know if you'd been bitten.

Our furry winged friend slowly circulated the room. It didn't actively dive bomb us. The bat hid in the house during the daytime, choosing not to exit through the open window. It made its departure much later the following evening, after terrorizing our friend's elderly mother.

When should one absolutely get the shots? That's a gray area, too. You "might" not know if you've been bitten, say some. Others argue that you'd "definitely know" if you'd been bitten.

Were you bitten, asked our family physician.

Not that I'm aware of, I replied.

The health department will call me some time today to see if we've followed up on getting shots, which are no longer given in the abdomen, by the way: shots are administered in the thigh or arm.

Well, I followed through with what the CDC web site recommends, and sought medical advice. Our medical advice was, "don't worry about it."

So, I'm trying not to worry about it - though in all honesty, my feelings are divided. One part of me screams, "GET THE VACCINES!!!!!" The other part of me says, rolling its eyes in disbelief, "Come on, nobody was bitten. This is a no brainer. The area where you stayed has no reports of rabid bats."

Ever have a bat in your house? What did you do?

I'll give you a hint, if you ever have that situation. If you were sleeping, and wake up to find a bat, kill it. Take it in for testing. If it's rabid, you get the shots. If it isn't, you don't get the shots. We, in our altruistic moment, decided to let the bugger go free - it wasn't acting erratically, it wasn't acting "sick." But - had we had the bat for testing, we wouldn't have to spend time agonizing over whether or not we made the right decision.

I'll check back in a year, assuming I'm still around.



For more information about bats and signs & symptoms of rabies, check the highlighted links in this article or see my post at Spanitz Consulting.