Bat Tests Positive for Rabies Near Plainfield

A live bat trapped near the front door of a home on Dan Ireland Drive is Will County's second confirmed rabies case of 2013, according to the Will County Health Department.

Residents of the home first spotted the bat in a bush very close to the front door of the home, health officials said. Will County Animal Control sent the bat for laboratory tests on July 8. The Illinois Department of Public Health confirmed that the bat had rabies on Tuesday, July 9.

Two adults and two dogs live at the Dan Ireland Drive home, but none were exposed to rabies, according to a press release from the health department. 

Will County's first case of wildlife rabies was confirmed April 2 in Joliet. No humans were exposed to the disease in that incident. Statewide, at least 10 bats in five counties have tested positive for rabies so far this year, according to the release.

Will County reported 12 rabid bats in 2012 between May 22 and Oct. 22. Four of the rabid bats were found in Joliet, while three were found in Plainfield and two in Manhattan. Single cases of bats carrying rabies were identified in Romeoville, Naperville and Elwood.

Cook and Will counties accounted for 38 percent of the state's bat rabies totals last year. 

Rabies is a vaccine-preventable viral disease which is almost universally fatal if post-exposure treatment isn't expedited, according to the health department. Humans are most often exposed due to the bite or scratch of an infected warm-blooded animal. In Illinois, bats are most often associated with rabies transmission.