“The bat bit me three times, with about fifty scratches.” Celia had to be vaccinated against rabies

Celia, 21, was seriously injured in the face by a bat while going to retrieve items from her car at night in Côtes-d’Armor late last January. Over a minute, she suffered three bites and about fifty scratches. The student had to be hospitalized. Bat bites that remain rare in France.

“I was in a panic, turning on myself“Celia is unlikely to forget that night of January 29 to 30. It was almost midnight when she decided to go to her car to get her phone charger. Suddenly, she felt something right on her left cheek. It’s really “A bat the size of a robin“But now, struggling to chase the small mammal, Celia would accidentally block it between her face and the sleeve of her down jacket.”At that time, in a panic, I didn’t realize that she had bitten and scratched me.” says Celia. The bat will bite him three times and make about fifty scratches.”My face was bloody!” she recalls.

According to the doctor, I was bitten at least three times and scratched about fifty times.

Celia,

The bat bit three times

After returning home, and barely recovering from her feelings, the young woman goes to disinfect herself and goes to bed. “At first, I didn’t have much pain. I wasn’t too worried. And yet I must be” Celia sighs. But the next day the pain worsened and, on his mother’s advice, he decided to go to the pharmacy for a medical teleconsultation. “During this remote consultation via camera, the doctor told me to go to the emergency room because there were visible bites.“

She goes to Rennes University Hospital where she will be vaccinated against rabies, tetanus and also receive treatment to stimulate her immune system. Two days later, she was placed under observation in the immunology department of the University Hospital to relieve her pain and overcome her weakness.

Bats have a special immune system that allows the virus to spread.

Professor Pierre Tettevin,

CHU Rennes, Head of the Department of Immunology

For Professor Pierre Tatevin, Head of the Department of Immunology at the Rennes Regional University Hospital Center, “ Bats can carry many viruses and microbes. They have a very specialized immune system that allows the virus to spread. And they are asymptomatic carriers, meaning not sick“Doctors emphasize the need to consult quickly, that is to say within 24 hours.”Even small wounds allow the virus to pass through. Among the most important risks is the very rapid spread of skin bacteria that should be treated quickly with antibiotics.”

Fortunately, these cases of serious bites caused by bats are rare in France. But in case of injuries and especially bites, they should not be taken lightly. In Brittany, for example, some of the 26 species recorded are potential carriers of the rabies virus.

“This story is completely new to us, although we are handling it for our research,” suggests Corentin Le Floch, coordinator of the “Chauve-Souris” network for the Bretagne Vivante Association. And he adds “This is the case for normal serotonin. In addition, it often comes into contact with humans because it lives in or very close to homes. There is also Schreiber’s Miniopter, which weighs 25 grams and has a wingspan of 25 cm.”

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In 2022, more than 460 people had to be vaccinated against rabies after being exposed to bats, as a preventive measure, according to the Pasteur Institute. “This is a preventive treatment because we have no cases of rabies in France. For these patients, we also do tetanus vaccination because these are very serious infections, for example, fatal even when rabies is declared.“, according to Professor Pierre Tettevin.

In August 2019, a sixty-year-old man died of a bat bite at Limoges University Hospital. Death after encephalitis caused by a rabies-like virus.

Bats are mainly victims of imaginations. Contrary to popular belief, they cannot blend in with hair because their ultrasound-based radar system is so fine. Moreover, mammals are very useful in nature. Every night, a person hunts thousands of insects.

Pesticides poison them

Corentin Le Floch

Network Coordinator “Bates” Association Bretagne Vivante”

Conversely, animals are victims of human activity. For Corentin Le Floch, who is participating in the National Bat Meeting in Borges (Cher) in the next three days, along with 500 other experts, these mammals are victims of numerous attacks such as “Destruction of their hibernation or breeding sites, deforestation that reduces their food resources, pesticides that poison them.” Not to mention the impact of wind turbines.

Also Read: Alarm cries from organizations over bat mortality around wind farms

If numerous actions in favor of the protection of colonies bear fruit with the stabilization of population, according to Corentin Le Floch “The bat situation remains very vulnerable.”

For Celia, for her part, the story ends without much trouble. An unfortunate encounter with a bat did not result in a facial scar. Maybe a little apprehensive now when she sees something flying around her.