BS BULLETIN:
- A bat killed by a household cat on Martha’s Vineyard tested positive for rabies, only the third confirmed rabid animal on the island since testing began in 1985.
- Three cats in the home were placed under a 45-day quarantine because officials couldn’t determine which had contact with the infected bat, while the homeowners received precautionary rabies treatment.
- Despite some rather apocalyptic headlines, Martha’s Vineyard is not under quarantine and local officials say there is no evidence of a rabies outbreak.
Apparently Martha’s Vineyard needed one more thing to worry about.
The summer playground of presidents, celebrities and millionaires has already been dealing with ticks, sharks and warnings about flesh-eating bacteria.
Now we’ve got bats. One bat, actually. But this particular bat had rabies.
The infected big brown bat turned up inside a Tisbury home after one of the family’s cats killed it July 26, according to the Martha’s Vineyard Times.
Animal Control Officer Heather Maciel sent it to the Massachusetts State Public Health Laboratory.
Two days later, the answer came back: Positive for rabies.
That’s where things got serious.
The household has three cats, and officials couldn’t determine which of them had been exposed to the bat.
So all three were placed under a 45-day quarantine.
The homeowners also received precautionary post-exposure rabies treatment.
Nobody has developed rabies.
None of the cats has shown symptoms.
And two other dead bats discovered afterward were tested and came back negative.
Tisbury Health Agent Drew Belsky says the evidence points toward an isolated incident rather than an outbreak.
That’s an important bit of information if you’ve seen headlines suggesting Martha’s Vineyard is descending into something resembling “The Last of Us.”
This is only the third rabid animal confirmed on the island since testing began in 1985. The previous two cases were bats discovered in Tisbury and West Tisbury in 2019.
But rabies itself is nothing to joke about.
Once symptoms appear in a human, the disease is almost invariably fatal. The good news is that treatment after a suspected exposure can prevent the disease from developing.
Bats present a particular problem because their teeth are so small that a person may not realize he or she has been bitten. Massachusetts health officials warn that merely waking up with a bat in your bedroom can warrant an evaluation for possible exposure. “Any possible contact with bats should be taken seriously,” the Massachusetts Department of Public Health warns.
And bats are responsible for a disproportionate share of America’s exceedingly rare human rabies deaths.
So the advice from health officials isn’t terribly complicated: Don’t touch bats.
Keep your pets’ rabies vaccinations current.
And if you wake up to find Dracula’s little cousin circling your bedroom ceiling, don’t simply open the window and forget about it.
Call somebody who knows what they’re doing.
As for Martha’s Vineyard? The island is still open. The rich and famous have not been evacuated. The Obamas do not need hazmat suits.
And the only creatures currently serving 45 days of hard time are three very unlucky house cats.
MY QUICK TAKE
I have to admit, “Martha’s Vineyard under threat from deadly infected bats” is a magnificent headline.
Unfortunately, the facts are somewhat less cinematic.
One bat.
Three quarantined cats.
Zero evidence of an outbreak.
Still, this summer hasn’t exactly been kind to the Vineyard. Flesh-eating bacteria, ticks that can make you allergic to steak, sharks and now a rabid bat.
Somebody should check whether the locusts have reservations for Labor Day.
DBS WIRE SOURCES
- Daily Mail — Quarantine Horror for Martha’s Vineyard as Experts Warn Over Risk From Deadly Infected Bats Across America
- Martha’s Vineyard Times — Bat With Rabies Is Third-Ever Case on the Island
- Massachusetts Department of Public Health — Rabies
- Massachusetts Department of Public Health — Bats in the Home
