The short answer is YES you can get rabies from a bat bite. Bats are wild animals and a small percentage of them carry rabies. If you see a bat in the day time, or if the bat is on the ground instead of hunting bugs or hiding out in its roost, something is likely wrong with it. Use common sense or you could be the subject of an article like this one:
Rabid Bat’s Oblivious Victim Roams Mojave Desert
Article dated 5/3/2013
Reporter Ken Lane
Original article link
A man attacked by a rabid bat in the Mojave National Preserve will probably die if not found and treated by health officials. Eyewitnesses say the bat landed on the mystery man’s neck outside the desert park’s book store at the Kelso Depot between Las Vegas and Los Angeles. The man wandered off, oblivious, and the bat fell dead from rabies.
Unless treated before the awful symptoms begin—including fever, confusion and rage—rabies is nearly always fatal in humans.
Many victims don’t even feel the bite from the tiny needle-like teeth of common American bats.
“If you know this man, it is very important that we speak with him,” a San Bernardino County Health Department officer said in a statement Thursday.
Do you know somebody who went to Mojave National Preserve on April 30? Maybe they’ve got a new book from the Kelso Deport book shop, and red marks on their neck? Keep your distance and contact the Communicable Disease office in San Bernardino County.
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In the comments of this article on the webpage listed above, someone posted a picture of what a bat bite might look like. It was very informative and illustrates why someone could have been bit and not even be aware of the bite. I have posted the photo at the top of this article.
Your Local Bat Removal Expert,
Michael Koski
