Be it resolved on this 30th day of October 2004 that researchers gathered at the 34th Annual North American Symposium on Bat Research are concerned about public misperceptions regarding undetected bites from bats, and the negative consequences for bats that are generated by those misperceptions.
Cases of rabies in humans in the United States and Canada are extremely rare. Data from the U.S. indicate that most human rabies infections occur because victims are bitten and either do not realize the risk of being bitten or trivialize the wound. No animal bite should be trivialized.
In our collective experience, bat bites cause sufficient pain to be readily detected, and if bitten by a bat, people will be aware of the bite. However, under certain circumstances (e. g., deep sleep, intoxication, illness or mental incapacity, or being a child too young to recognize or relate the history of exposure), the minor trauma and wound may not be recognized as a bat bite and could also go untreated.
We are concerned that people receiving bat bites sometimes do not seek medical attention. We are also concerned that the media and local public health agencies frequently overreact to incidental bat exposure, causing unnecessary eradication of bats or treatment of people not bitten by bats. This results in actions and public perceptions that are costly to people, detrimental to bats, and provide no additional protection against rabies.
We support:
We recognize the need for reasonable precautions against rabies. We support public education about bats and rabies that:
Be it resolved on this 30th day of October 1999, that researchers gathered at the 29th North American Symposium on Bat Research find no credible support for the hypothesis that undetected bites by bats are a significant factor in transmitting rabies to humans, as implied by the January 16, 1998 issue of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
In our collective experience, bats seldom are aggressive, even when sick, and humans typically feel and recognize any bites they receive. The undetected bite hypothesis appears to be derived from the inability of medical professionals to interview patients due to late moribund or postmortem diagnoses. In the rare cases in which humans contract rabies from bats or other animals, the available evidence strongly suggests that bites were involved and could have been remembered had the patients been coherent. We are deeply concerned about the impacts and resulting negative consequences for bats stemming from the undetected bite hypothesis, which has apparently moved from theory to fact without adequate testing. The consequences are both economic and social. The economic costs are clear, and the social impact is seen, both in the way that people react to bats and in the way that conservation efforts are impeded. The undetected bite hypothesis is not supported by evidence, and it should not drive public policy nor public health responses.
We recognize the need for reasonable precautions against rabies, including vaccination of all who handle bats professionally, and public education that: 1) cautions never to handle bats or other animals; 2) warns to seek immediate medical evaluation of any actual or suspected animal bite; and 3) places risks in perspective with values.