When she discovered the bat trapped in her son's room, Maggie Kunz didn't think twice about capturing it in a trash can and letting it out the window.
"That's just what we usually do with bugs or spiders in our family — we do our best to catch them and let them go," she said. "My instinct was to just get the animal out and not to harm it."
Kunz is a public health preparedness and response and Community Transformation Grant coordinator at the Carroll County Health Department, and when she told the story at work, she was greeted with widened eyes and directed to Doris Hare, communicable disease program manager. Bats are common carriers of rabies, Hare explained, a disease that is always fatal once symptoms appear. Because there was no chance to test the bat to ensure it was disease-free, anyone who could have been bitten would have to get a series of post-exposure rabies shots.
"Doris explained to me that if we had been awake, it would have been one thing, but since we had been asleep, it was possible the bat could have bitten my son without his knowing; bat bites are so small," Kunz said. "My daughter's door was open too, so she had to get shots too just because it was possible the bat could have gotten in there as well."
The Kunz children were two of the 28 Carroll residents who have had to get post-exposure rabies shots in 2014, according to Health Department records, and while a bat was the culprit for the Kunzes, many times it is simply a domestic dog or cat that has bitten a person and cannot subsequently be located, Hare said.
In general, it is pets that are most likely to come into contact with the wild animals that most typically carry rabies, which are bats, raccoons and foxes, according to Joe Mancuso, rabies program manager at the Health Department. Those pets can then transmit rabies to humans.
To keep pets safe and prevent their bringing rabies home to their owners or other members of the community, the Health Department will hold its second Anti-Rabies Clinic of the year for dogs, cats and ferrets on Sunday, Mancuso said. Vaccination will be $7 per pet.
"We want to get as many pets' immune systems as possible built up against the rabies virus," Mancuso said. "The first inoculation or a booster shot, whatever your pet needs, we will take care of it on Sunday."
Coincidentally, Sept. 28 is also World Rabies Day, an international day of recognition of the dangers of rabies, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Worldwide, there are more than 55,000 deaths from rabies annually, according to the CDC, largely in Africa and Asia, but in the United States, human deaths from rabies number one or two per year.
Rabies has been brought under control in the United States in large part because of efforts to vaccinate domestic animals, such as at Sunday's rabies clinic, Mancuso said, as well the availability of post-exposure rabies vaccine.
"The main thing is that we have the strict protocols everywhere in the U.S. that any time anyone is exposed, there is a protocol that is thoroughly followed," he said. "That's why, thankfully, we have a low prevalence of human rabies."
Part of that protocol is assessment by the Health Department any time there has been an animal bite, Hare said, and it is vital that those who might have been bitten or who have knowledge of an animal that bit someone contact the Health Department.
"We talk to the family or the individual and start with the questions: 'How did this exposure occur? Do you know the animal or dog and are not forthcoming with the info? What are the chances we can locate the animal quickly?'" Hare said. "A lot of people just don't want to get someone else in trouble with their pet; that happens a lot. They don't even think someone's life or health is put in jeopardy."
In many cases, an animal can be located and tested or the owner found and the animal's rabies vaccination confirmed, Hare said. This way, bite victims can avoid receiving a series of post-exposure rabies shots, another reason vaccinating pets is a good idea.
But in cases such as the Kunz family, in which the animal was not available to be confirmed as rabies free, Hare said there is no choice but to give the shots. Thankfully, the days of administering rabies vaccine via long needles to the stomach are over.
"There are four visits. The first day, you get immunoglobulin and rabies vaccine, and those are followed by three more doses of rabies vaccine, all given in your deltoid region," Hare said. "It's not in the abdomen; that was a long time ago."
Katie Kunz, Maggie's 13-year-old daughter, wasn't pleased when she heard she had to undergo the shots, but she got through it.
"I am pretty afraid of shots, so that was the big thing on my mind … When we first went, I had to get three in my legs and two in my arms." she said. "It wasn't too bad actually."
Katie said she didn't know that much about rabies, and the fact that a bat was flying around her house was more frightening than her potentially close brush with the rabies virus, but according to Hare, it's important that everyone keep in mind just what the stakes are: Anyone actually infected with the rabies virus and left untreated will die — there is no cure once the illness takes hold.
"Lots of people hate shots. Yes, it's a shot, but it's not worse than a flu shot," Hare said. "Everyone usually does very well with it … you do it because it is absolutely necessary that you do it."
Reach staff writer Jon Kelvey at 410-857-3317 or jon.kelvey@carrollcountytimes.com.
If you go
What: Anti-Rabies Clinic for pets
When: 2-4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 28
Where: Carroll County Agriculture Center, 706 Agriculture Center Drive, Westminster
Cost: $7 per pet
Report animal bites to the Carroll County Health Department at 410-876-1884. In the event that an animal is still in the vicinity after a bite, or any animal is observed acting strangely, call animal control at 410-848-4810 or 410-875-5379.
