Hundreds may have been exposed to rabies at national park

Hundreds of people from several states and countries may have been exposed to rabies at bat-infested cabins in Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park over the past few months.

As of Aug. 15, a small sample of dead bats found in some of the cabins had not tested positive for rabies. To be safe, health officials are working to alert everyone who has stayed in the cabins recently in case they were exposed by being bitten or scratched, especially since a bite or scratch can go unnoticed when people are sleeping.

The cabins have been unoccupied, with no plans to reopen, since the bat problem was discovered July 27.

Bats are one of the animals most likely to transmit rabies to humans. Once symptoms occur, the disease is nearly always fatal.

However, a five-shot prophylactic regimen over a two-week period soon after exposure is highly effective in preventing illness. Health officials are recommending prophylactic shots for deep sleepers who found a bat in their room and children too young to say whether they had seen a bat.

Read more: CNN

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