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KillstardoAbominate t1_ja8qdlw wrote

Reply to comment by bulboustadpole in I found a bat in my pool. He’s very much alive. I set him in the sun to dry out away from my dog by Handicapreader

> What evidence were you able to gather from a photo of a bat that makes you think it likely has rabies? > >

Simply the fact that it exists and it's a fucking bat. Bats are among the most common animals to have and/or spread rabies. It's pretty fucking simple. If you handle a bat you should probably get the rabies vaccine.

https://www.cdc.gov/rabies/animals/bats/index.html

Edit to add:

>I would love to see some numbers on how many rabies vaccines are administered in the US. My guess is not as much as you would think.

According to the CDC, "only" 30,000 - 60,000 people per year receive rabies vaccines for postexposure.

https://www.cdc.gov/rabies/location/usa/surveillance/human_rabies.html

Also, notice in the list of rabies cases, 13 of the 25 were from bats and how some of them occurred without a known bite.

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