32 San Marcos Students Touched Rabid Bat, but Risk Slight

San Marcos school officials said Friday they have identified 32 children who touched a rabid bat brought onto an elementary school playground this week, but none of the students are believed to have been exposed to the disease.

The live bat, described as very small and lethargic, was brought to Alvin Dunn Elementary School on Wednesday in a toothpick box by a sixth-grade boy, said Supt. Mac Bernd of the San Marcos Unified School District.

Bernd said interviews with the boy and other students led to the identification of 32 children who touched the animal. On Thursday, the bat was determined to be carrying rabies after tests by the county Department of Health Services.

Bernd said he had been given second-hand information that a 4-year-old child living in an apartment complex where the bat was found will undergo a series of immunization shots because of fears that the youngster handled the animal more aggressively and may have had significant contact with saliva from the bat.

“But mere touching of the animal doesn’t constitute exposure to rabies, and we don’t know of any students who were exposed,” Bernd said. “I think we’re looking at children who may have just squeamishly touched the fur, and there’s no reason for concern in those cases.”

Dr. Donald Ramras, the county’s health officer, said rabies is transmitted from animals to humans through a bite or if the animal’s saliva enters a human through an open sore or is transferred through a mouth or eye.

Treatment Less Painful

Treatment for possible exposure to rabies, which is usually fatal unless treated immediately, is through a series of shots given in both arms. The series is shorter, less painful and with relatively fewer side effects than was the case years ago, when a greater number of more painful injections were made into the person’s abdominal muscle, Ramras noted.

The last known incident of a person dying from rabies in San Diego County was more than 15 years ago when a child was chased and bitten by a rabid bobcat, Ramras said.

Ramras said parents should consult their personal physician for advice if they fear their child may have had exposure to the rabid animal.

Ramras said rabid animals are not uncommon to San Diego County, and that health officials are aware of about a dozen cases a year--usually bats, skunks, raccoons and other wild animals that don’t normally have contact with humans.

“The advice we give over and over again is that wild animals are just that, wild. If one lets you get close enough to touch it, the odds are it is sick with something. And that something could be rabies, a plague or a disease that isn’t transmittable to humans. In any event, it is sick and best left alone.”