A health warning has been issued for parts of north Queensland after dozens of people have been bitten or scratched by flying foxes.<\/p>\n
Authorities say encounters with the bats are on the increase and are urging the public to keep their distance.<\/p>\n
Since the start of the year, 17 people have come into contact with bats across the Townsville health district and 20 in the Mackay region.<\/p>\n
Townsville Public Health Unit reports that those numbers have been gradually increasing in recent years.<\/p>\n
However, the health service says it has not recorded recent increases in the fatal Australian bat lyssavirus (ABVL).<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Kate Murton says there has been an increase in exposures to flying foxes. (ABC North Qld: Gabrielle Becerra Mellet)<\/p>\n
Acting director Dr Kate Murton said flying foxes could carry the dangerous virus.<\/p>\n
“ABLV is one of the most lethal viruses we know of \u2014 it can cause paralysis, delirium, convulsions and ultimately death,” she said.<\/p>\n
“If anyone comes into contact with a bat bite or a bat scratch, we need them to urgently seek emergency treatment.<\/p>\n
“We have to treat every bat exposure as if they have the virus.”<\/p>\n
Four people have died from the virus since 1996 across Australia, with the latest death recorded in New South Wales this year.<\/p>\n
Bats ‘bite through gloves’<\/p>\n
Dr Murton said it was bat breeding season and there were more cases of animals becoming tangled in fences or barbed wire.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Health authorities say only trained and vaccinated wildlife carers should handle bats. (ABC North Qld: Lily Nothling)<\/p>\n
“People are attempting to help the distressed animal, which is when they get bitten or scratched,” she said.<\/p>\n
“With recent cases, we have seen flying foxes scratch through clothing and bite through gloves.”<\/p>\n
Dr Murton said authorities were urging people to leave bats alone.<\/p>\n
“If you have been bitten or scratched, then immediately and thoroughly wash the wounds with soap and water, use antiseptic solution, and go directly to the emergency department for post-exposure treatment,” she said.<\/p>\n
Widespread across northern regions<\/p>\n
James Cook University adjunct associate professor Noel Preece said there were three species of bats found in north Queensland: the little red, spectacled and black flying foxes.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Bats roosting at Dan Gleeson Memorial Gardens in Townsville. (ABC North Qld: Brooke Tindall)<\/p>\n
“The reds are hard to predict but they do follow the flowering of eucalypts and melaleuca in particular,” he said.<\/p>\n
“They can move in huge numbers across the country, to where the eucalypts are flowering at the time.”<\/p>\n
He said colonies of the animals were often difficult to move on.<\/p>\n
“Instead of having a colony that might be 500 or a thousand or something \u2014 by disturbing them, they can break up into a hundred or 50,” he said.<\/p>\n
Influx expected<\/p>\n
In Charters Towers, black flying foxes are considered residents.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Liz Schmidt says there has been an influx of migratory red flying foxes in the region. (ABC North Queensland: Georgia Loney)<\/p>\n
A colony was successfully moved to a site near the town’s sewage treatment plant, using dispersal techniques.<\/p>\n
But Mayor Liz Schmidt said the council was now dealing with migratory red flying foxes, who also came to roost at Lissner Park.<\/p>\n
“They come in, they land in the trees and they roost, then they have babies and we can’t touch them,” she said.<\/p>\n
“Community understands through a lot of consultation \u2014 that they will come, we have to expect the influx of the migratory ones to come.”<\/p>\n
Ms Schmidt said there had been issues with dispersal techniques.<\/p>\n
“There was pyrotechnics, there was banging, there was smoke,” she said.<\/p>\n
“It’s an impost on our community; some people are vulnerable, some people with PTSD.”<\/p>\n
She too urged her residents to stay away from the flying foxes.<\/p>\n
“Leave them alone, don’t touch them, don’t let them scratch you and you won’t be impacted negatively, health-wise,” she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A health warning has been issued for parts of north Queensland after dozens of people have been bitten…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":234150,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[64,63,136858,140582,16468,106173,137,136862,139841],"class_list":["post-234149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bat-bites","tag-bat-scratches","tag-bats","tag-flying-foxes","tag-health","tag-lyssavirus","tag-townsville-hospital"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234149\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/234150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}