Happy bat season! Here's your rabies questions, answered
Bites from bats are an increasingly common way for humans to contract rabies.
Photo courtesy of U.S. Department of Agriculture
If you're out when it gets dark, perhaps sitting around a campfire or lingering at a park, you might see a bat swoop through the shadows, gobbling up insects like they’re M&M’s.
We are getting into the busy season for bats. Baby bats that were born this spring will soon start to fly out on their own, which can occasionally lead to some surprising encounters with humans — especially if bats wind up somewhere you're not expecting, like inside your house.
That might lead you to call the Minnesota Department of Health. The MDH fields several thousand calls a year from people concerned about rabies after encountering bats.
To get more information, MPR News host Cathy Wurzer speaks with Carrie Klumb, senior epidemiologist and Rabies Surveillance Coordinator for Minnesota Department of Health and she's the Rabies Surveillance Coordinator.
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If you have a concern about rabies or animal bites, the Minnesota Animal Bites and Rabies Hotline number is 651-201-5414 or 1-877-676-414
Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.
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We attempt to make transcripts for Minnesota Now available the next business day after a broadcast. When ready they will appear here.
Audio transcript
CATHY WURZER: This time of the year at dusk, you'll likely notice small winged creatures flitting about, gobbling up insects like they are M&Ms. Yeah, they're bats, obviously. Bats are important to the environment, but they have a creepy reputation that freaks some people out, especially when one of them winds up in a place you are not expecting to see them, like inside your house.
That might lead you to call the Minnesota Department of Health. The Health Department fields several thousand calls a year from folks concerned about rabies after encountering bats. Carrie Klumb is a Senior Epidemiologist for the State Department of Health. She's the Rabies Surveillance Coordinator. She is on the line. Carrie, thanks for being here.
CARRIE KLUMB: Thank you so much for having me, Cathy.
CATHY WURZER: Interesting that you are the rabies coordinator. How common is it nowadays? It seems like we have vaccines out there for dogs and cats and other animals. But how many calls do you get from folks who are actually worried about this?
CARRIE KLUMB: Yeah, that's a really good question. So human rabies is really, really rare in the United States. So in the whole country, we only see about one to five cases every year. And a really big part of that is the fact that we no longer have the strain of the rabies virus that affects dogs in the United States. And that's because, as you mentioned, people have vaccinated their dogs and cats against rabies.
So it's really important that people continue to do that, keep their dogs and cats vaccinated, vaccinate your horses too. And that really protects everybody else from having that strain of the rabies virus that affects dogs come back into this country. But there are other strains in our state that people need to be worried about.
And so the two wildlife reservoirs, we call them, in our state are skunks and bats. So each of those animals have a strain of the rabies virus that's adapted to them. And so, like you mentioned, we get about 2,500 calls a year. And we test about 2,000 animals each year for rabies.
CATHY WURZER: Hmm. OK. And even in those animals, skunks and bats, is it still a fairly low incidence of rabies?
CARRIE KLUMB: So that's a good question, too. So it's thought, in the wild, about 1% of bats have rabies, and there isn't any literature out there to tell us what percentage of skunks naturally have rabies in their population. What we see through our testing is-- people bring these animals in to be tested, so there's usually some sort of interaction that another animal or a person has had with that animal being tested. But we see about 3 and 1/2% to 4% of the bats we test each year come back positive for rabies and about 50% of the skunks we test.
CATHY WURZER: So, by the way, are you pretty busy this year?
CARRIE KLUMB: Yes. This is definitely our busy season now through early September. Bats are having their babies at the end of May and early June, right around this time. And the babies stay with their mom for about a month, and then they start to leave that roost and go out and find food on their own.
And they can get lost, and they can end up in people's attics or inside their living space in their home. And so we see a lot more interactions with bats and other wildlife during the summer months, and especially early into fall when bats-- some of our species hibernate and some of them migrate south. So the ones that are hibernating are looking for a nice cozy place to hibernate, and sometimes that means your house.
CATHY WURZER: Much to the chagrin of some people who are in that house. So if you do happen to have a bat in your house-- and this has occurred a couple of times for me-- do you want to capture it? Do you want to shoo it out? Do you just want to-- what should someone do?
CARRIE KLUMB: Yeah, that's a great question. I also have woken up to a bat in my bedroom before, and it's really disconcerting.
CATHY WURZER: Yes.
CARRIE KLUMB: So really what we're thinking about with bats is they have really tiny teeth. It can be sometimes hard to see those bite marks. You won't always have them scab over or bleed. And so they actually have special rules about what we consider to be a potential exposure to rabies through a bat.
And so one is obvious if you know you were bitten by the bat, that's concerning. But even if you don't know if you were bitten, if you had a bat fly into you, land in your hair, or touch your bare skin, we would consider that a potential exposure because it's possible the bat could have bitten you and you wouldn't have realized it. It's usually pretty chaotic when a bat's flying at you, hard to remember exactly what happened in that moment.
Same as if you wake up to a bat while you're sleeping. You don't really know what was happening while you were asleep. It's possible it could have landed on you and bit you, and then you woke up to it flying around.
Or if we have really young children or anyone who can't reliably tell you what happened, if you find them alone in a room with a bat, all of those things we would consider an exposure, we want you to capture the bat and send it in for rabies testing. Now, if you are just awake and you see a bat flying around in your living room while you're watching TV, that is not a potential exposure. We're not worried about that. And then it's perfectly safe to let that bat go.
As you mentioned, they're eating tons and tons of mosquitoes and other bugs. They're really great for our ecosystem. They're important pollinator species. So if you haven't had an exposure, we really want you to let it go and let that animal live. But if you had one of those exposures, we'd really like you to capture it and test it.
CATHY WURZER: And what if you're not incredibly sure? Should you err on the side of caution?
CARRIE KLUMB: Yes. Yeah, it's always best to err on the side of caution when we're talking about potential rabies exposure. So if you're not sure and you can't tell 100% what happened, go ahead and capture the bat and then have it tested for rabies.
CATHY WURZER: OK. Thank you, by the way, for that information. And when it comes to dogs and cats, same kind of a situation? Obviously, if you've been bitten by a dog or a cat, you're going to know. But if you do happen to have that exposure, what do you try to do in that respect, again, find the animal, bring the animal in? What happens then?
CARRIE KLUMB: Yeah, so it's a little bit different for our most common pets, our dogs and cats, and actually all domestic animals. And when I say domestic animals, I mean like livestock as well and horses, cattle, pigs, sheep, goats. If you're bitten by one of those animals, our first option is to do a 10-day confine and observe.
So we know what the disease looks like in those animals. So if it's safe to do that, if you've had an extremity bite and you know where the-- you either own the dog, you know the dog owner, or you get the police involved, they will actually confine and observe that animal for 10 days from the date of the bite. And if the dog, cat, or livestock is alive and well at the end of those 10 days, we know it couldn't have had rabies when it bit you.
The animal has to be sick with rabies for it to be contagious, for the virus to go into the animal's salivary glands and in its saliva and then pass it on to you through a bite. So if the animal, dog or cat, actually had rabies when it bit you, it would be incredibly sick, and usually would die within about three to four days. So that 10-day window is an extra window of safety.
CATHY WURZER: Got it. And before you go, I mean, I'm presuming you've had a series of rabies shots probably in your life. Are they as bad as people say they are?
CARRIE KLUMB: I actually have managed not to have to get the rabies shot so far.
CATHY WURZER: Really? There you go.
CARRIE KLUMB: And they are not as bad as people think they are. It's a series of four vaccinations over two weeks. It's a vaccine in your arm, just like a flu shot. And then you get something on the first day you get your shot, which is actually premade antibodies that come from donors so it protects your body right away while your body's taking time to make its own protection with those vaccines, so not in the stomach, only in the arm. Yeah.
CATHY WURZER: All right. Good information, Carrie. Thank you so much.
CARRIE KLUMB: You're welcome. Can I just put one quick plug in? If you have a question at all, we have a hotline at 651-201-5414. We have a whole team of people that answer calls all day long. So please call us if you ever have a question.
CATHY WURZER: Excellent, Carrie. Thank you so much.
CARRIE KLUMB: Thank you.
CATHY WURZER: Carrie Klumb is a senior epidemiologist for the State Department of Health. She's the rabies surveillance coordinator.
That might lead you to call the Minnesota Department of Health. The Health Department fields several thousand calls a year from folks concerned about rabies after encountering bats. Carrie Klumb is a Senior Epidemiologist for the State Department of Health. She's the Rabies Surveillance Coordinator. She is on the line. Carrie, thanks for being here.
CARRIE KLUMB: Thank you so much for having me, Cathy.
CATHY WURZER: Interesting that you are the rabies coordinator. How common is it nowadays? It seems like we have vaccines out there for dogs and cats and other animals. But how many calls do you get from folks who are actually worried about this?
CARRIE KLUMB: Yeah, that's a really good question. So human rabies is really, really rare in the United States. So in the whole country, we only see about one to five cases every year. And a really big part of that is the fact that we no longer have the strain of the rabies virus that affects dogs in the United States. And that's because, as you mentioned, people have vaccinated their dogs and cats against rabies.
So it's really important that people continue to do that, keep their dogs and cats vaccinated, vaccinate your horses too. And that really protects everybody else from having that strain of the rabies virus that affects dogs come back into this country. But there are other strains in our state that people need to be worried about.
And so the two wildlife reservoirs, we call them, in our state are skunks and bats. So each of those animals have a strain of the rabies virus that's adapted to them. And so, like you mentioned, we get about 2,500 calls a year. And we test about 2,000 animals each year for rabies.
CATHY WURZER: Hmm. OK. And even in those animals, skunks and bats, is it still a fairly low incidence of rabies?
CARRIE KLUMB: So that's a good question, too. So it's thought, in the wild, about 1% of bats have rabies, and there isn't any literature out there to tell us what percentage of skunks naturally have rabies in their population. What we see through our testing is-- people bring these animals in to be tested, so there's usually some sort of interaction that another animal or a person has had with that animal being tested. But we see about 3 and 1/2% to 4% of the bats we test each year come back positive for rabies and about 50% of the skunks we test.
CATHY WURZER: So, by the way, are you pretty busy this year?
CARRIE KLUMB: Yes. This is definitely our busy season now through early September. Bats are having their babies at the end of May and early June, right around this time. And the babies stay with their mom for about a month, and then they start to leave that roost and go out and find food on their own.
And they can get lost, and they can end up in people's attics or inside their living space in their home. And so we see a lot more interactions with bats and other wildlife during the summer months, and especially early into fall when bats-- some of our species hibernate and some of them migrate south. So the ones that are hibernating are looking for a nice cozy place to hibernate, and sometimes that means your house.
CATHY WURZER: Much to the chagrin of some people who are in that house. So if you do happen to have a bat in your house-- and this has occurred a couple of times for me-- do you want to capture it? Do you want to shoo it out? Do you just want to-- what should someone do?
CARRIE KLUMB: Yeah, that's a great question. I also have woken up to a bat in my bedroom before, and it's really disconcerting.
CATHY WURZER: Yes.
CARRIE KLUMB: So really what we're thinking about with bats is they have really tiny teeth. It can be sometimes hard to see those bite marks. You won't always have them scab over or bleed. And so they actually have special rules about what we consider to be a potential exposure to rabies through a bat.
And so one is obvious if you know you were bitten by the bat, that's concerning. But even if you don't know if you were bitten, if you had a bat fly into you, land in your hair, or touch your bare skin, we would consider that a potential exposure because it's possible the bat could have bitten you and you wouldn't have realized it. It's usually pretty chaotic when a bat's flying at you, hard to remember exactly what happened in that moment.
Same as if you wake up to a bat while you're sleeping. You don't really know what was happening while you were asleep. It's possible it could have landed on you and bit you, and then you woke up to it flying around.
Or if we have really young children or anyone who can't reliably tell you what happened, if you find them alone in a room with a bat, all of those things we would consider an exposure, we want you to capture the bat and send it in for rabies testing. Now, if you are just awake and you see a bat flying around in your living room while you're watching TV, that is not a potential exposure. We're not worried about that. And then it's perfectly safe to let that bat go.
As you mentioned, they're eating tons and tons of mosquitoes and other bugs. They're really great for our ecosystem. They're important pollinator species. So if you haven't had an exposure, we really want you to let it go and let that animal live. But if you had one of those exposures, we'd really like you to capture it and test it.
CATHY WURZER: And what if you're not incredibly sure? Should you err on the side of caution?
CARRIE KLUMB: Yes. Yeah, it's always best to err on the side of caution when we're talking about potential rabies exposure. So if you're not sure and you can't tell 100% what happened, go ahead and capture the bat and then have it tested for rabies.
CATHY WURZER: OK. Thank you, by the way, for that information. And when it comes to dogs and cats, same kind of a situation? Obviously, if you've been bitten by a dog or a cat, you're going to know. But if you do happen to have that exposure, what do you try to do in that respect, again, find the animal, bring the animal in? What happens then?
CARRIE KLUMB: Yeah, so it's a little bit different for our most common pets, our dogs and cats, and actually all domestic animals. And when I say domestic animals, I mean like livestock as well and horses, cattle, pigs, sheep, goats. If you're bitten by one of those animals, our first option is to do a 10-day confine and observe.
So we know what the disease looks like in those animals. So if it's safe to do that, if you've had an extremity bite and you know where the-- you either own the dog, you know the dog owner, or you get the police involved, they will actually confine and observe that animal for 10 days from the date of the bite. And if the dog, cat, or livestock is alive and well at the end of those 10 days, we know it couldn't have had rabies when it bit you.
The animal has to be sick with rabies for it to be contagious, for the virus to go into the animal's salivary glands and in its saliva and then pass it on to you through a bite. So if the animal, dog or cat, actually had rabies when it bit you, it would be incredibly sick, and usually would die within about three to four days. So that 10-day window is an extra window of safety.
CATHY WURZER: Got it. And before you go, I mean, I'm presuming you've had a series of rabies shots probably in your life. Are they as bad as people say they are?
CARRIE KLUMB: I actually have managed not to have to get the rabies shot so far.
CATHY WURZER: Really? There you go.
CARRIE KLUMB: And they are not as bad as people think they are. It's a series of four vaccinations over two weeks. It's a vaccine in your arm, just like a flu shot. And then you get something on the first day you get your shot, which is actually premade antibodies that come from donors so it protects your body right away while your body's taking time to make its own protection with those vaccines, so not in the stomach, only in the arm. Yeah.
CATHY WURZER: All right. Good information, Carrie. Thank you so much.
CARRIE KLUMB: You're welcome. Can I just put one quick plug in? If you have a question at all, we have a hotline at 651-201-5414. We have a whole team of people that answer calls all day long. So please call us if you ever have a question.
CATHY WURZER: Excellent, Carrie. Thank you so much.
CARRIE KLUMB: Thank you.
CATHY WURZER: Carrie Klumb is a senior epidemiologist for the State Department of Health. She's the rabies surveillance coordinator.
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