Everything to know about rabies in Moab
Bats play a vital role in the Moab ecosystem: here, the 18 species of bat that call Utah home eat mosquitos (up to 1,000 per hour) and insects, pollinate plants, and disperse seeds, according to Wild Aware Utah. They’re also protected by Utah law, meaning it’s illegal in the state to intentionally kill bats.
While it’s rare that bats carry rabies—according to Rutgers University, less than 1% of all bats carry rabies, and according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, only 6% of bats submitted for rabies testing in a lab actually had rabies—the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that bats are one of the most commonly reported rabid animal in the United States.
This summer, two bats in Arches National Park tested positive for the virus. Karen Garthwait, acting public affairs specialist for the Southeast Utah Group of National Parks, said the bats found in Arches were already dead: rabies kills bats fairly quickly. The two bats testing positive doesn’t indicate an outbreak, she said.
“If you see a dead bat, do not try to pick it up,” Garthwait said. “If you see a bat behaving strangely—flying in midday, lying on the ground, flying close to or landing on people—do not touch it or try to catch it. If it’s in Arches or Canyonlands, notify a park ranger.”
When park rangers are notified of a bat acting strangely, she said, they may try to very carefully move it away from a busy area (such as the visitors center, where one of the rabies-positive bats was found in August) using thick gloves or a long-handled tool.
Luke Counterman, MMSC PA-C, a provider in the urgent care clinic at the Moab Regional Hospital, said MRH administers rabies post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) around four times per month, but he has never seen or met another provider who has treated a case of human rabies, he said.
The rabies virus infects the central nervous system. The incubation period between exposure and symptoms can be days or even months; the first symptoms may be similar to those of the flu, progressing to cerebral dysfunction, anxiety, confusion, and agitation. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “As the disease progresses, the person may experience delirium, abnormal behavior, hallucinations, hydrophobia (fear of water), and insomnia… Once clinical signs of rabies appear, the disease is nearly always fatal.”
Rabies is transmitted only when the virus is introduced into a bite wound, open cuts in skin, or onto mucous membranes such as the mouth or eyes, Counterman said. Any direct contact with a bat should be considered a potential exposure to rabies, as bat scratches or bites can be very small—and, he said, if a person wakes up with a bat near them, or if a bat is found in the same room as someone who can’t confirm an exposure (like an infant or unconscious person), that should be considered an exposure.
Once someone is exposed, they should be seen in an emergency department as soon as possible for PEP. It’s a two-part process, Counterman said: part one is multiple injections of rabies immunoglobulin around the site of an identifiable bite or wound (those are antibodies that directly attack the virus); part two is administration of the rabies vaccine. The vaccine is typically administered as a four-dose series on days 0, 3, 7, and 14 from exposure.
“Prophylaxis after an exposure is highly effective, with over 99% survival in confirmed rabies exposure and completion of PEP,” Counterman said. “Only around 1% of cases that receive PEP [in the U.S.] have actually been exposed to rabies.”
The only instances in which PEP wouldn’t be started is if the potentially rabid animal were captured or killed, then tested negative for the rabies virus within 72 hours of exposure. But in many cases, this isn’t feasible, Counterman said: “I would certainly not recommend a person trying to capture or kill a bat for testing purposes, but a person could consider calling animal control for assistance with this, especially if the bat is within a home or vehicle.”
