Volume 5, Number 3—June 1999
Dispatch
Risk for Rabies Transmission from Encounters with Bats, Colorado, 1977–1996
W. John Pape*
, Thomas D. Fitzsimmons*†, and Richard E. Hoffman*
, Thomas D. Fitzsimmons*†, and Richard E. Hoffman*Table 2
Circumstances in which humans encountered bats, Colorado, 1977–1996
| Circumstances | Bat captured and tested |
Bat not tested | All encounters | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rabid | Not rabid | |||
| Bat landed on person | 17 | 2 | 27 | 46 |
| Person picked up bat outdoors | 24 | 5 | 15 | 44 |
| Person awoke to find bat in room | 17 | 4 | 14 | 35 |
| Person tried to remove bat from indoors | 5 | 2 | 17 | 24 |
| Person inadvertently touched hidden bat | 3 | 5 | 8 | 16 |
| Person handled captured bat | 12 | 0 | 1 | 13 |
| Child found alone with bat | 4 | 3 | 2 | 9 |
| Person handled bat as part of job | 6 | 1 | 1 | 8 |
| Person stepped on bat | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Person bitten while taking bat from pet | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| Person bitten by pet that had bat in mouth | 1 | 4 | 1 | 6 |
| Person attributed wound to bat they saw | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Other circumstances | 0 | 0 | 6 | 6 |
| Unspecified in report | 5 | 3 | 11 | 19 |
| Total | 99 | 32 | 109 | 240 |
