Treatment advised for Joliet woman after rabid bat found
August 29, 2012 1:46PM
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Updated: October 1, 2012 5:11PM
JOLIET — The Will County Health Department recommended post-exposure rabies treatment for a Joliet woman Tuesday after one of two live bats taken from her apartment was confirmed rabid.
Joliet Township Animal Control trapped both bats in the living room of the near West Side apartment and transported them to Will County Animal Control for shipment to the Illinois Department of Public Health. Will County Infectious Disease Control and animal control officials learned that one of the bats tested positive for rabies late Tuesday.
A dog and a cat also live in the apartment where the bats were trapped, but both pets are current on their rabies vaccinations.
Seven Will County bats have now tested rabies-positive during 2012, including three from Joliet, and two from Manhattan. Positives have also been reported from Plainfield and Naperville.
Rabies is an infectious viral disease transmitted to humans through the bite of an infected warm-blooded animal. If not treated promptly, rabies in humans is virtually always fatal.
