Overview
- A bat swooped down and became caught in a woman’s hair near the Staircase Rapids Trail Bridge at about 2 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 9, and that bat has since tested positive for rabies.
- Park and Mason County health officials are trying to identify the woman and locate any other visitors who may have had contact with the bat and have asked the woman to call Mason County Public Health at 360-427-9670, ext. 405.
- Officials urge anyone who was in the area or who saw the bat to contact a health care provider and the local health department right away because rabies is fatal if untreated but preventable with timely post-exposure treatment.
- Post-exposure care for people not previously vaccinated typically includes rabies immunoglobulin plus a multi-dose vaccine series and should begin as soon as possible even if a bite or scratch is not remembered.
- Washington health authorities note human rabies is very rare—two cases in roughly 75 years—but bats are the state’s main rabies carriers so visitors should avoid touching bats, report encounters to park staff, and keep pets’ vaccinations current.