<p>stickershot
I am so sorry your guy has to go thru all that pain. cannotbelieve how cowardly and deceitful some people are.</p>
<p>StickerShock, sorry to hear about your ordeal... I hope everything is OK.
BB.</p>
<p>My d spent the summer in a dorm on campus while conducting research with one of her professors. One night in July, she called me excitedly, and said she had just been on her way to shower before bed, when a bat came hurtling at her from down the hallway, and had barely missed her. She rushed back into her room, slammed the door shut, and soon heard the shreaks of other girls as they also encountered the bat. Facilities people were called, and bat experts there there the next day, removing a number of them from the attic of the building. I had forgotten that bats can carry rabies. Otherwise, I wouuld have been on the phone to the school, asking what they were going to do to protect the girls. Knowing what I know now, they should have evacuated the dorm immediately until the de-batting was accomplished. My D was never asked if she had been bitten, and there was never any talk about rabies vaccination. Lucky for all concerned that no one was biten by a rabid bat, because the school acted as if they were oblivious to the danger of that occurring. Apparently, something like this had happened in a previous year, also.</p>
<p>Bats keep flying in my dorm room in the middle of the night. The bastards are endangered to so I can't have my unholy retribution on them...</p>
<p>Bats also carry bugs like fleas that can infest your house and bite you. My sister had bats in her awnings and spread these bugs through the whole house. They were all getting bit. Had to have an exterminator come in to get rid of them.</p>
<p>We have more a problem with rabid raccoons here, but still, no one in the house has died of rabies... yet. We had a guy come over, a "batologist" - who pointed out where they were getting in (old no-longer-used chimney), and we just put up some steel screening. Still, when kids are out on porch roof (don't ask), they sometimes leave their unscreened window open a crack and that's all it takes. Mostly, the bats are more afraid of us, than we are of them. </p>
<p>My jack russell terrier, Spot, L O V E S the bats and she is the one who usually alerts us to their unwanted household presence. She hasn't caught one yet. Thanks be to God.</p>
<p>I agree that bats are cool. For years I have had bat houses on trees around my house. They are supposed to eat mosquitos and were of great interest to the kids.</p>
<p>But just a few weeks ago, a sign was up at the neighborhood playground that a dead bat with plague had been found where all the kids play.</p>
<p>It is a shame that we have to be at war with nature. Bats do an incredibly good job of eating insects, but I too wouldn't want them in my house or dorm. Many of their traditional roosts have been developed and they are pretty rare here where I live now. I wish they had more wild habitat.</p>
<p>Wait so bats in my room should be more than a "They're not bothering me so I won't complain" kind of thing? My roomie is freaking out a lot more than I am, but after reading this... haha.</p>
<p>Bats, and most wild animals can carry diseases, and you don't want direct contact with them. But, I wouldn't worry about getting Bubonic Plague from them. For one thing, it is curable now with antibiotics.</p>
<p>Plague is curable. But Rabies still kills if you are bitten by a rabid animal, and don't receive the proper series of vaccine in a timely manner. Bats in your home or dorm room are a potential serious danger, especially since the bite from a bat is can be so minor, people don't always realize that they've been bitten. If you are bitten in your sleep, you might never wake up enough to comprehend what has happened. If later, you suddenly become symptomatic of Rabies, it will be too late to receive life saving vaccine. People must guard against having bats in their living spaces with all seriousness.</p>
<p>Had a bat in the bedroom - had the rabies shots because we did not know if we were bit or scratched when we were asleep. The shots were not pleasant, but better than the potential alternative of rabies. If you are sleeping and a bat gets into your residence, it's imperative to have the shots.</p>
<p>"Bats are capable of carrying rabies."</p>
<p>Students are capable of carrying sexually transmitted diseases. And to think one might have to wake up next to one...;)</p>
<p>Are there any side-effects I should look out for? I mean yeah I woke up at 4 am with a bat flying around the room but I don't recall being bit. I'd really prefer not to have rabies shots....</p>
<p>Many states have a protocol where shots are required. Call your state or county department of health for more info. Of course the requirement cannot be reinforced, but the possibility of rabies is not something to mess around with. There is no cure.</p>
<p>I am surprised so many have shared our experience: A bat entered my son's room through an open unscreened window (at 4 am). We closed off the room and searched next morning and found no bat. But it was hiding and reappeared that evening flying around the family room. Again, I opened doors and windows and bat disappeared - so I thought it flew out the open door. It reappeared 2 hours later upstairs. This time I donned full protective gear - long sleeves, pants, boots, work gloves... helmet... I know, totally ridiculous, (but I didn't want to be in that situation of wondering if I should get rabies shots because the bat touched me, or worse, bit me.. ) and trapped the bat in a box and took him outside. No more bat. No rabies here. I don't know what the incubation period is for rabies. I think a severe headache is your first symptom and probably too late for treatment at that point.</p>
<p>vis - seriously, you and your roomie need to report your exposure to a bat to school authorities and see campus health. If you were bit, you would likely not know it.</p>