Switzerland : a bat infected with rabies has bitten a human

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Published the 07.08.2017 at 16: 30

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Dracula is not back, but a case switzerland incites us to beware of bats. The swiss authorities have in fact reported a case of infection by the rabies virus in an animal, in the canton of Neuchâtel. This is the first recorded case in the last 15 years.

The bald-infected mouse was collected by a man who had found her on the 28th of July last, weakened and disoriented, on a sidewalk, reports The Morning. This gesture of compassion towards an animal not always attractive turned against the good samaritan. The same evening, when he tried to release it, she was bitten on the index, before dying.

Preventive treatment

“As the bite was deep enough, the person went to the hospital, where he was given office a preventive treatment against the rabies virus,” explained the cantonal veterinary Pierre-François Gobat. The fears were quickly confirmed : the 2 August, the results of the tests are fallen : the bat was indeed rabid.

Since the eradication of rabies in foxes in Europe, the case of the detection of the virus are extremely rare. But occasionally, bats may be infected, and monitoring is put in place. In switzerland, 941 of them have been tested since 1976, revealing that three infections in 1992, 1993 and 2002, reports Science and Future.