Alberta Health Services has received reports a bat confirmed to have rabies bit a person in southern Alberta.
In a Facebook post, Heartland Veterinary Clinic said Airdrie Bylaw handed over a bat that officers said flew inside a person’s car and bit someone.
The bat was sent to Lethbridge to be tested for rabies – and the results came back positive.
Alberta Health Services suggests anyone who is bitten or scratched by a bat report the exposure so that preventative measures can be taken.
The person bitten in Airdrie did not become infected.
Dr. Judy MacDonald, a medical office of health with the province, said the last human case of rabies in Alberta was in 2007. That person was bitten and then failed to receive medical attention.
“It’s almost universally fatal at that point, unfortunately.”
Rabies is a viral disease that causes inflammation of the brain in humans and other mammals. The disease is rare and preventable with vaccines.
MacDonald said thousands of animals in Alberta are tested for rabies every year.
“In Calgary, for instance, last year we investigated and followed up on over 1,300 reports of animal exposure. So it’s kind of a daily occurrence for us,” she said.
Last year, four Alberta bats tested positive for rabies.
MacDonald believes this is the first case of human rabies exposure in 2016.
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