PLEASANTON — Three people were being treated for exposure to rabid bats that were brought into homes by house cats, in an unusual rash of possible rabies cases.
A Pleasanton woman and her 18-month-old daughter were exposed after the baby ate an orange slice her mother had tried feeding to a sick bat. A neighbor's cat had caught the bat and brought it inside.
The mother later took the bat to the Lindsay Wildlife Museum in Walnut Creek, and Contra Costa County animal control officers eventually determined the bat had rabies.
A Livermore woman was treated after picking up a bat that had crawled onto her leg. That bat had also been captured by a neighbor's cat, which will be euthanized. The cat's owner also has been advised to be treated for rabies.
"It is unusual," said Joanne Christenson, a county supervising vector control officer. "Generally, we don't have that many people who have contact with bats."
Although there are no signs the three patients have rabies, the treatments — a series of six shots in the arm — are precautionary.
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Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
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