Two additional rabid bats were captured in Will County last week, bringing the number of rabid bat findings across the county this year to four — as many as were found in Will County all of last year, a health department spokesman said.
Tests performed last week at the Illinois Department of Public Health’s laboratory confirmed that bats found in the driveway of a Homer Glen residence on June 12 and inside a Joliet home on June 14 both had the rabies virus, Will County Health Department spokesman Steve Brandy said.
Neither bat is believed to have come in contact with a person. A cat living at the Homer Glen residence received a rabies booster and follow-up treatment as a precaution, Brandy said.
The discoveries come on the heels of two other rabid bat findings in Will County in the past month — the first in a Joliet apartment on May 28 and the next inside a Naperville home on June 8.
The resident who found the rabid bat in Naperville was able to trap it inside the washing machine after it flew inside, Brandy said.
“That’s the kind of quick thinking that’s needed,” he said, stressing that residents who spot bats should try to confine them in an area separate from people and pets, and immediately contact Will County Animal Control at 815-462-5633.
People should never touch bats and should check all people and pets who may have come in contact with them for bite marks, he said. Brandy also urged residents to get their pets vaccinated against rabies.
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As of June 13, nine rabid bats had been found in Illinois this year, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health’s rabies surveillance map. The map, which is updated weekly on Wednesday, does not reflect the two rabid bats found last week in Will County, but does include a rabid bat found in Oak Lawn on June 1 — one of three discovered in suburban Cook County so far this year.
IDPH spokeswoman Melaney Arnold said rabid bat findings typically pick up around May each year, as temperatures rise and bats come out of hibernation. August has traditionally been the biggest month for rabid bat discoveries, she said.
Over the past five years, the number of rabid bats found annually across the state has ranged from a low of 40 in 2014 to a high of 97 in 2015, according to IDPH data.
While there were only four rabid bats found in Will County last year, the county led the state with 20 discoveries in 2015 and 13 in 2014, more than double the amount found in any other county, health department data shows.
Arnold said the number of rabid bats found in a particular area can fluctuate from year to year based on weather patterns and the abundance of prey, which itself is affected by temperature and pesticide use.
While more bats have been submitted to the IDPH’s lab for testing this year compared to last, fewer have tested positive for rabies, she said.
Alpesh Patel, an epidemiologist for the Will County Health Department, said it’s too early to say whether the discoveries of four rabid bats in Will County already this year means we’ll see an uptick in findings and possible exposures this year.
“We have to wait a couple of months (to see),” said Brandy, who speculated the rabid bat findings could be related to the recent heat wave, or could just be due to chance.