A man has died from Australian bat lyssavirus. Here's what you should know
Keira Glasgow, a director in health protection at NSW Health, said on Wednesday that people should assume any bat in Australia could be carrying Australian bat lyssavirus. That includes flying foxes, other fruit bats and insect-eating microbats.
How can Australian bat lyssavirus be passed on to humans?
Like rabies, a bite or a scratch from an infected bat is how Australian bat lyssavirus is transmitted to humans. It can also be transmitted by other exposure through the eyes, nose or mouth to an infected animal's saliva. It's for this reason, Glasgow said, only trained and vaccinated wildlife workers should handle bats, and NSW Health advises in general to avoid handling any land-dwelling wild or domestic mammal in countries with a rabies virus risk.
NSW Health advises anyone who sees a bat distressed, injured or trapped on the ground to not try to rescue it. Instead, people should call WIRES' trained experts on 1300 094 737 or local wildlife groups.
What does lyssavirus do to humans, and what are the symptoms?
Australian bat lyssavirus affects the central nervous system, with early symptoms being described as flu-like, including headaches, fever and fatigue. Eventually, the illness progresses to paralysis, with convulsions and delirium. Death usually comes within a fortnight of symptoms presenting.
According to NSW Health, the previous three human cases of Australian bat lyssavirus had wide variability when it came to their incubation periods, as some took several days and others several years for symptoms to present.
How is it different from the Hendra bat virus?
Like rabies and Australian bat lyssavirus, there is no cure, medical treatment or human vaccine for Hendra virus, which is a rare disease that's passed from an infected horse to humans, with very few reported human cases in Australia. Since 2012, a vaccine for horses has been available.
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Hendra virus, believed to be transmitted from flying foxes to horses via contaminated bat urine, droppings or saliva, is not the same as equine flu, which is highly contagious among horses but does not infect humans.
It's also believed that Hendra virus is not transmitted to humans directly from flying foxes, only through human contact with an infected horse's bodily fluids. Human-to-human Hendra virus transmission has also not been reported.
Should Australians be worried about lyssavirus?
One fortunate aspect of Australian bat lyssavirus being so closely related to rabies is that rabies prevention measures can effectively protect humans from Australian bat lyssavirus when symptoms are detected early.
'It is incredibly rare for the virus to transmit to humans, but once symptoms of lyssavirus start in people who are scratched or bitten by an infected bat, sadly there is no effective treatment,' Glasgow said. 'If you are bitten or scratched by a bat, urgent medical assessment is crucial.'
NSW Health said that in 2024, 118 people required medical assessment after being bitten or scratched by bats. The man who died this week received treatment several months ago after being bitten by a bat. Glasgow said further investigation was under way 'to understand whether other exposures or factors played a role in his illness'.
Meanwhile, Dr Alison Peel, a veterinarian and wildlife disease ecologist at the University of Sydney, told this masthead that it's not the time to panic or 'persecute bats', as they are essential to our ecosystems.
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