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Yikes! Rabid Bat Found At O.C. Park
(Photo by Eduard Kyslynskyy / Shutterstock)
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A dead bat found Saturday at Laguna Niguel Regional Park has tested positive for rabies and the Orange County Health Care Agency is urging anyone who might have had contact with it to seek medical help.
The bat was found on the ground near near Alicia Parkway and La Paz Road, according to the Orange Count Register. A park ranger found a dead bat, also rabid, on a walkway near La Paz Road in April 2012.
Since rabies is almost always fatal once a person starts showing symptoms of the disease, anyone who might have been exposed to rabies should see a doctor as soon as possible. Symptoms include fever, headache, weakness and, later, insomnia, anxiety, confusion, partial paralysis, hallucinations, agitation, and difficulty swallowing. (Some think that people infected with rabies inspired zombie, werewolf and vampire legends.)
The agency asks anyone who had contact recently with a bat in or near the park to call the Orange County Health Care Agency at 714-834-8180 (or 714-834-7792 after hours), so a nurse can evaluate the risk of rabies.
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Most U.S. rabies cases in recent years have been from bats. Since the animals have small teeth their bites can go undetected, the agency said.
Although we'd like to think that if a bat bit you, you would realize it!
Related:
Possible Rabid Bat Attack Prompts Search For Endangered Man
Beware the Sunbathing, Sidewalk Strolling Rabid Bat, L.A.
Eek! Rabid Bats Are On the Rise in L.A. and Ventura Counties
Squirrel With Bubonic Plague Forces Campground Closures
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