According to a news release:
Two customers found the bat Sept. 9 in the Halloween section of the Jo-Ann Fabric & Craft Store. The health department was notified Monday and sent the bat to the Washington State Public Health Laboratories for testing. Wednesday, the lab notified Public Health and Social Services that the bat had rabies.
The pair who found the bat received rabies vaccinations as a precaution.
County health officials are asking the store’s customers to call if they may have touched the bat at the store between Sept. 2 and Sept. 9. The health department can be reached at 360-867-2500 and will answer calls until 9 p.m. today and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday.
“People who walked, shopped, or worked at Jo-Ann’s are not at risk unless they came in contact with the bat,” Dr. Diana Yu, Thurston County Health Officer, said in the news release.
A dozen to as many as 23 bats a year test positive for rabies statewide, said Tim Church, communications director for the state Department of Health. In 2010, out of 200 bats tested, 14 were positive, he said. Nine have tested positive this year, Church said.
“This is the time of year we get a lot of bats,” he said.
If a person has been exposed to a rabid bat, he or she receives five injections in the arm over a two-week period to boost the immune system and vaccinate against rabies, Church said.
Rabies is spread through an infected animal’s saliva. Rabies can be transmitted if an infected animal bites someone, or if the animal’s saliva comes in contact with a person’s eyes, nose, mouth or open wound. People who see a bat, dead or alive, are advised not to touch it.
ONLINE
For more information about rabies, go to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website at www.cdc.gov/rabies or the Washington State Department of Health’s site at www.doh.wa.gov/EHSPHL/factsheet/rabiesfct.htm.
MORE INFORMATION
The Public Health and Social Services recorded message line is available 24 hours a day and will be updated to provide current information about this issue; it’s 360-709-3080. Information will also be posted on the department website at www.co.thurston.wa.us/health.
