Three Snohomish Residents Receive Rabies Treatment After 1 Bat Tests Positive
Updated
Updated · KOMO News · May 29
Three Snohomish Residents Receive Rabies Treatment After 1 Bat Tests Positive
6 articles · Updated · KOMO News · May 29
Three Snohomish County residents are undergoing preventive rabies treatment after a bat that entered a rural eastern county home Sunday night tested positive for the virus.
Wednesday lab results confirmed the bat was rabid, prompting a regimen of rabies vaccinations plus human rabies immune globulin, which health officials said is nearly 100% effective when given promptly.
The case is Snohomish County's first rabid bat since 2023 and the second confirmed rabid bat in Washington state this year.
Fewer than 1% of wild bats in Washington carry rabies, but officials warned that bat season is starting and urged residents to seal home openings, avoid handling bats and keep pets vaccinated.
With the CDC pausing rabies testing, are communities facing a greater, undetected threat from rabid bats this summer?
A bat in a bedroom is a rabies exposure. What other surprising scenarios require urgent and life-saving medical care?
Rabies treatment costs $14,000. How do doctors decide who needs it when less than 1% of wild bats are infected?