Official insights from Public Health – Seattle & King County staff
A rabid bat was found near Husky Stadium at the University of Washington (UW) on Saturday, May 19, and at least one person was bitten. Multiple people were likely exposed to the rabid bat while attempting to help the individual remove the bat from his hand at a UW fraternity. If you may have had […]
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A rabid bat was found on the playground of Bear Creek Elementary School in Woodinville on the morning of Monday, October 2. If you or your child had any recent contact with a bat at Bear Creek Elementary School, contact Public Health immediately at 206-296-4774 for information on preventative treatment. Contact includes touching a bat, […]
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Three rabid bats have been found in public areas within King County since August 19 and an additional two rabid bats were found in 2017 that had no exposure to the public. I sat down with Vance Kawakami, DVM MPH, one of our public health veterinarians and an epidemiologist, to find out what is going […]
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A rabid bat was found at Angle Lake Park in the City of SeaTac. If you had any contact with a bat near the park lakeshore by the old lifeguard shack on Monday, August 28 or Tuesday, August 29, contact Public Health (206-296-4774) immediately for information on preventative treatment. Rabies can be life-threatening, but is preventable if […]
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A rabid bat was found at Green Lake Park in Seattle on Thursday evening, August 17th. If you had any contact with a bat at the park on Wednesday or Thursday, contact Public Health immediately (206-296-4774) for information on preventative treatment. Rabies can be life-threatening, but is preventable if treated before symptoms appear. Read our media release for […]
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Bats have an unfortunate reputation. A small, unscientific survey of our staff said they associate bats with “vampires,” “Mitzvah,” “Michael Keaton,” and “Nelson Cruz.” Clearly, we needed to learn more. So we sat down with our in-house expert, Public Health Veterinarian Beth Lipton, who reminded us that bats aren’t all bad, but you really shouldn’t touch […]
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