Rabid Bats a Concern Near Banning, Beaumont: Recent Positive Tests

Three bats have tested positive for rabies this week near Banning and Beaumont, and officials in two counties have issued cautionary statements.

The most recent reported case occurred Wednesday June 6 in Riverside, where a bat bit a 55-year-old man while he was cleaning a pool, John Welsh of Riverside Count Animal Services said.

On Tuesday June 5 at a home in unincorporated Hemet, a dog was playing with a downed bat and the bat bit the dog, Welsh said in a statement.

Both bats were impounded and tested for rabies. Test results that came in positive for both bats were received Friday afternoon, Welsh said. The Riverside man was receiving treatment Friday at a hospital.

The dog bitten near the city of Hemet has a current rabies vaccination, but it will be quarantined on the residential property where the bite occurred for six months, Welsh said.

Though this bat was found in Hemet, Riverside County Department of Animal Services' Chief Veternarian Dr. Allan Drusys says he can't recall another case in the San Gorgonio Pass area within the last few years.

In Chino on Monday June 4, a bat that was dropped off at Chino Police Department tested positive for rabies, the San Bernardino County Department of Public Health announced Thursday.

The San Bernardino County Department of Public Health has issued a Rabies Exposure Alert, noting its lab has confirmed 5 rabid bats in the last two weeks.

"While not extraordinary to find rabies in bats, we believe our cases, coupled with the recent cases in San Bernardino County, is a good time to remind the public to be cautious around bats," Dr. Drusys said Friday.

"Should anyone encounter a bat, live or dead, do not touch it," Drusys said. "Let a trained professional, such as our animal control officers, remove and impound the bat. We will then get it tested."

Rabies is a deadly disease that can occur when people are exposed to or get bitten by an infected animal, San Bernardino County health officials warned.

For more information about rabies prevention, visit the Centers for Disease Control website at http://www.cdc.gov/rabies or call the County of San Bernardino Department of Public Health, Communicable Disease Section at 1 (800) 722-4794.

Officials were trying to reach whoever dropped off the bat in Chino, anyone who touched it, and anyone who has recently touched any bat. Call (909) 356-3805 after business hours and on weekends.