In dozens of states and several nations, health officials are trying to notify hundreds of people who might have been exposed to rabies in bat-infested cabins in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming in recent months.
None of the bats discovered in a few of Jackson Lake Lodge’s eight connected cottages had tested positive for rabies as of Friday.
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However, Wyoming State Health Officer Dr. Alexia Harrist stated that the few dead bats discovered and submitted to the Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory in Laramie for examination were most likely just a small portion of the dozens that most likely occupied the attic above the row of cabins.
Other bats were driven out through the windows and doors of the cabin but were not killed. Very few, on the other hand, ever flew down into living areas from the attic.
Therefore, health officials decided it would be preferable to warn anyone who has lately been in the cabins that they could have been exposed by getting bitten or scratched. A bat bite or scratch can go unnoticed, especially when individuals are sleeping.
People who may have had direct touch with a bat or who reported seeing bats in their rooms are our main concerns, Harrist stated on Friday.
Since concessionaire Grand Teton Lodge Company learned of the bat issue on July 27, the cabins have been vacant and there are no plans to reopen.
The rabies virus is often spread by bats. In humans, rabies is nearly invariably lethal once symptoms like muscle aches, vomiting, and itching start to manifest.
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Fortunately, Harrist pointed out that a five-shot preventive regimen administered over a two-week period shortly after exposure is very effective in preventing disease.
After being empty over the winter, the cabins reopened for the summer in May. Health officials estimated up to 500 individuals had stayed in the cabins, based on about 250 reservations made until late July.
Through the health departments of those states and, in the case of international visitors, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, they were attempting to reach people in 38 states and seven countries.
According to Harrist, anyone who has not yet received an alert but has been in cabins 516, 518, 520, 522, 524, 526, 528, and 530 this year should notify medical personnel or a physician right once.
For those who met specific requirements, such as deep sleepers who discovered a bat in their bed or tiny children who couldn’t claim to have seen a bat, health officials were suggesting preventative vaccinations.
Regarding visitor safety at the Jackson Lake Lodge area, the Wyoming Department of Health identified no persistent concerns. Among these is the annual summer symposium on economic policy hosted by the Federal Reserve at Jackson Lake Lodge on August 21–23.
According to Emily Curren, Wyoming’s public health veterinarian, the lodge firm has done an excellent job of conducting due diligence to ensure that everyone arriving for that visit and all others this year will be as safe as possible.
According to Curren, one damaged bat did not have enough brain tissue to be examined, while three or four dead bats from the cabins tested negative.
They were all brown bats, which are classified into two categories: little and large. The larger species are more than twice as huge. Both species are abundant in Wyoming, but officials were not sure which one they were.
According to Curren, they usually reside in colonies of 30 to 100 people.
“We can’t rule out a risk of rabies being in that many bats,” Curren added. We are unable to determine with certainty which bats entered these rooms.
Emily Davis, a spokesman for Grand Teton National Park, stated that there are no intentions to eradicate the bats. They said that devices installed on the building were preventing the bats from returning after they had flown out to feed on insects.
