RI, MA EHS Pest Control Blog

Bat in Box Prompts Rabies Concern, Health Department Says Man Showed Bat to People Last Week

An unusual sight in downtown Providence last week as an unidentified man was in Kennedy Plaza, showing off a bat he had in a box.

It happened around 8:45 in the morning on January 23rd.

"This bat, we don't know if it had rabies or not", says Peter Hanney, Department of Health spokesperson. "So out of an abundance of caution we're asking people to please give us a call at the Department of Health."

Health officials were first alerted to the incident by a health care provider who treated two people who came in contact with the bat.

"Two individuals were treated, one for a bat bite and the other for suspected rabies exposure. They informed the health care provider that they received this from a bat in a box from an individual in Kennedy Plaza," adds Hanney.

Health officials say they're concerned about the incident because five percent of all bats have rabies and bat rabies is extremely contagious.

"There's different types of rabies, and the bat strain is really contagious. It doesn't need to be from a bite. It can be just from the saliva if it gets into any mucous membranes or small cuts that you may have on you, you can contract rabies that way too. left untreated it is deadly," says Hanney.

The unidentified man who originally had the bat in a box is in his 50's, about six feet tall with a beard and he was wearing glasses at the time.

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

Bed Bug Bites Drive Indian Train Passengers to De-board and Demand a New Train Carriage

After complaining about bed bug bites for just under a hundred kilometers, twenty-two passengers in a bed bug-infested railway compartment in India got off their train yesterday, and demanded railway officials provide them with a new train carriage. Tormented by bedbugs, passengers in one of the air-conditioned coaches of the Jammu Tawi Express from Mangalore got off the compartment here early on Tuesday and forced railway authorities to replace the carriage.

The 22 passengers in the compartment said they had been continuously bitten by bedbugs ever since the train passed Shoranur. In Coimbatore, they left the compartment with their luggage and demanded a replacement coach.

The train was delayed at Coimbatore for three-and-a-half hours. The travellers shouted slogans, and the issue was resolved only after station deputy superintendent M Chandran intervened. The train was delayed at Coimbatore for three-and-a-half hours. The travellers shouted slogans, and the issue was resolved only after station deputy superintendent M Chandran intervened. An air-conditioned coach from another train was taken from the maintenance yard and attached to the Jammu-bound train. The compartment with bugs was disinfected and later attached to the same train.

A ticket examiner said passengers had started complaining at Shoranur about the bugs. In Palakkad, they were told to wait till the train reached Coimbatore. "It was sheer luck that we were able to find an AC coach in the maintenance yard. Otherwise, things may have gone out of control," said a railway official here.

Source = India times

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA