A bat that landed on a family's table at Yellow Deli in Vista around 1 p.m. on July 19 later tested positive for rabies, prompting San Diego County to ask anyone who touched or held it to seek medical advice.
Another diner used a towel to collect the bat and took it to the Humane Society in Oceanside, after which the county public health lab confirmed rabies; officials said no direct skin contact has been reported so far.
Only direct contact with the bat is considered a rabies risk, and post-exposure treatment is highly effective before symptoms begin, while rabies is almost always fatal once symptoms appear.
The case marks San Diego County's 22nd rabid bat this year, already exceeding the 21 positive bats recorded in all of 2025; California's most recent human rabies case was reported in 2024.