In Australia, in the Queensland, the inhabitants of the Gold Coast were put on alert after the discovery of a bat infected with a disease potentially fatal to humans.
A roussette kinda sick Pteropus was picked up at the north end of Albert Waterway Park on Monaco Street at Broadbeach on February 3, 2021. She tested positive forAustralian bat lyssavirus (ABLV), a virus similar to the rabies virus.
Anyone who could have been in contact with this bat is advised to go to a doctor to receive post-exposure rabies vaccine treatment.
Reminder on Lyssavirus :
In Australia, the bat rabies virus is a Lyssavirus, l’Australian Bat Lyssavirus, closely related to the rabies virus, which is only found in Australia, and is transmitted to humans by fruit bats, bats of the kind Pteropus. The virus causes a disease very similar to rabies. Post-exposure treatment is the same as post-exposure treatment for rabies.
Human contamination occurs exclusively through contact with the saliva of an infected animal by biting, scratching, licking on excoriated skin or on mucous membranes (eye, mouth). The animal can become contagious 15 days before the appearance of the first symptoms of the disease and it remains so until death. If the animal is alive and showing no symptoms after an observation period of 15 days from the date of exposure (bite or other exposure), it could not transmit rabies to the bitten person . To reduce the risk of contracting rabies, it is recommended that you avoid contact with pets, bats, or wild mammals.
In the event of a bite, scratch or lick on a wound:
- Local care with cleaning of the wound with soap and water for 15 minutes, rinsing, application of an iodized or chlorinated antiseptic, are essential to limit the risk of infection.
- A doctor must then be consulted who will decide on the need for an anti-rabies vaccine treatment and the administration of specific anti-rabies immunoglobulins, in the absence of preventive vaccination.
Preventive vaccination can be recommended for expatriates and travelers at risk (hikers, children, cyclists, speleologists, subjects having contact with animals). Preventive vaccination does not dispense with curative treatment, which must be implemented as soon as possible in the event of known or suspected exposure, but it simplifies treatment and dispenses with the need for immunoglobulins, which are not always available in developing countries.
Source : ProMED.
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