Docs are warned to immunise after killer virus is found in tiny dead bat

DOCTORS have been told to vaccinate for rabies after a bat tested positive for the killer virus.

The UK has been officially free of the deadly disease for years even though it turns up as close as France.

Now Public Health England says a dead serotine bat at an undisclosed location in Dorset was infected with European Bat Lyssavirus 1.

Officials said: “Any person exposed to any type of bat in the UK should receive a prompt risk-assessment and may require post-exposure treatment with rabies vaccine.”

Exposure means a bite, scratch or contact with bat saliva.

This is the first time EBLV-1 has been confirmed in the UK. Serotine is a native species which weighs little more than a 50p coin.

PHE warned the bat rabies virus “is related to the classical rabies virus and can lead to clinical CARRIER A native serotine bat rabies in humans”. The UK was declared rabies-free in 1922 but in 2002 David McRae, 56, died from the virus after a bat bite in Scotland. Every year, around 150 people in England receive NHS treatment after being exposed to the mammal. PHE said: “We provide vaccine to people who have been bitten by any type of bat in the UK as a precautionary measure.”