Warning issued over bat at fair

The Arkansas Department of Heath on Thursday warned that visitors to the Arkansas State Fair last week who were in close contact with a bat acting strangely may need to take precautions against rabies, a news release states.

The bat, which was in contact with at least two people in the fairground’s horse barn on Saturday, was not captured, and so health authorities couldn’t say for sure if its erratic behavior was due to the deadly rabies virus, the release states.

However, authorities advised the two people known to have been near to bat to begin rabies post-exposure prophylaxis as a precaution. People who also had direct contact with a bat at the fairgrounds were encouraged to contact the Health Department to undergo a risk assessment.

Rabies is transferred through animal bites or, rarely, from infected saliva contacting a person’s eyes, nose, mouth, or open wounds, the release states. Casual contact, or just being near an infected animal, poses no risk of infection.

There were no animals housed in the barn, so there were no known animal exposures during the fair, the release states.

The Health Department does not provide or pay for the post-exposure treatment but can advise residents or health care workers about whether the treatment is recommended in a specific case.

Rabies occurs in less than 1% of bats, but infection can cause them to act in bizarre ways that may lead them to have closer contact with people than they usually would, the release states. There is no cure or treatment for rabies after symptoms start, and the virus is nearly 100% fatal.

The sighting at the fairgrounds came less than a month after Little Rock Zoo staff on Sept. 23 captured and later put down a wild bat that was flying around zoo grounds erratically and tested positive for rabies.

In a Sept. 28 news release, the zoo said none of its animals were known to have been exposed to the bat.