CDC on Bats and Rabies

We tend to read several articles about bats with rabies. There are so many articles that it would make everyone think that this is a serious problem and that all bats have rabies. But that is far from the truth. Newspapers want to print what people are reading. It is like the supply and demand. More people click on a link about bats and rabies causes the hits to go up. So newspapers follow and print more and more. Soon we are overwhelmed with articles about bats and rabies. So I decided to email the CDC and get the truth. I have added the complete email below.

As with any mammal, it is best to not touch them as they all can have rabies. this includes your dog.



Thank you for your inquiry. The true rate of rabies in bats is highly variable and dependent on numerous ecological factors. The variation in numbers you have pointed out below is also highly influenced by the method of surveillance used to detect rabies. The largest surveillance activity in the United States is referred to as “Passive Public Health Surveillance”. Under this system, only bats that have exposed a human or pet are eligible for testing. Each year around 25,000 bats are tested under this system, of which about 5 – 7% are positive. These are bats that have a much higher probability of having rabies due to their abnormally-acting behavior. It is an important population to test for the public’s health, but it is a very biased sample when compared to the full population of bats (normally and abnormally acting). There are several studies that have looked at rates of rabies in randomly sampled bat populations (healthy and abnormally acting) and these studies tend to find around 0.1% - 0.001% rates of rabies (so it is very uncommon in a random sample). The higher rates of rabies in bats that you mentioned are typically only seen when an outbreak has occurred in a colony. These events are very rarely detected through surveillance programs and are not representative of the “normal state” of a bat colony.

There is no universal truth to the rate of rabies in bats. It is highly variable based on numerous ecological factors and surveillance factors and rates change over time, even within a single colony. In general, the risk of rabies in a normal, healthy bat is quite low (but not 0), while the risk of rabies in an abnormally acting bat is quite high relative to the deadly nature of rabies. For this reason, persons should always avoid direct contact with bats unless using appropriate personal protective equipment; this is safest for the person and will prevent the unnecessary euthanasia and testing of that bat.

Best,

Rabies Team
Poxvirus and Rabies Branch
Division of High Consequence Pathogens and Pathology
National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Hotline: 404-639-1050
Email: rabies@cdc.gov