Should I Live With Bats In My Home or Building?

It isn’t often that we discuss issues with bats from outside of the United States. We mean no offense to those that don’t live here, we just think it’s important to focus on the areas we service.

I recently stumbled upon an article about bat issues in Saudi Arabia and it made me extremely glad that we do live in and service the United States. It also fortified my belief in not letting bats live in your home or building….

Have You Heard of MERS?

So the headline of the Saudi Arabia article didn’t really grab my attention at first because I’m familiar with MERSA, what it is, and how it’s contracted. It’s more common in the US than many people realize.

But, once I started reading the article, I realized they were talking about something very different from what I’m familiar with. They were talking about MERS-CoV or Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus.

This virus is closely monitored by the World Health Organization and as the name would indicate, is found mostly in the Middle East. It’s highly contagious and outbreaks are common.

I’m not worried about contracting this coronavirus and you shouldn’t be either. Here’s why the story caught my attention; it made me so very thankful that I live in an area with STANDARDS.

You see, the outbreaks mentioned in the article, every single one of them, started from BATS IN HOSPITALS! You guys, that’s horrible!

There are at least 5 active investigations into unrelated hospital outbreaks in Saudi Arabia right now. And check out these stats:

• As of today there have been 1,634 cases since 2012
• That includes 672 deaths, and 14 cases under treatment
• The case-fatality rate in Saudi Arabia is 41.1%
• The majority of the people sick in Saudi Arabia right now are hospital workers
• As of the end of May 2017, a total of 1,980 laboratory-confirmed cases of MERS-CoV, including 720 deaths were reported globally
• The global case-fatality rate was 36.4%
• Bats constitute 98% of the animals found to harbor coronaviruses
• Areas with high bat populations have a wider diversity of detectable coronaviruses
• It is estimated there are 3,204 coronaviruses found in bats

We Get Frustrated Too

Sometimes, we have to tell our clients they have to wait to address a bat problem. That’s a hard thing to do and is frustrating for us as much as them. Other times, we get told we have to wait by a myriad of government entities. That’s REALLY frustrating for us as we want to help you get rid of bats as soon as possible.

We just got back from a big hospital bat removal project. Yes, it does happen here, but the really great thing? The Joint Commission, which is the governing board over all hospitals in the US, makes sure that these problems get addressed here.

I think after reading this article about the issues in countries without building regulations or healthcare standards I may never complain about our processes and red tape again. Maybe. 🙂

Standards are in place for the greater good. I’m going to try to remember that.

Oh, and in case you missed it, don’t let bats live in your home or building with you. Just because MERS-CoV isn’t found here, doesn’t mean bats don’t carry a variety of other diseases in the US. Call us or click below to get started on your bat removal project today!

Your local bat removal expert,

Michael Koski