ORANGE COUNTY, CA — A bat found on a sidewalk in the City of Orange tested positive for rabies this week, health officials announced.
The discovery prompted officials Wednesday to warn residents to avoid contact with wild animals and seek medical help if they believe they have been exposed.
Officials urged anyone who touched the bat or saw someone else handle it to call the agency’s Communicable Disease Control Division at 714-834-8180, which operates 24 hours a day.
Pet owners whose animals may have had contact with the bat should contact their veterinarian, officials said.
“Once a person begins showing signs and symptoms of rabies, the disease is nearly always fatal,” the agency said in a statement, adding that preventive treatment is safe and effective if administered promptly after possible exposure.
Rabies is spread through the saliva of infected animals, usually by a bite, though rare cases have occurred through contact with the eyes, mouth or an open wound, officials said. Most U.S. human rabies cases in recent years have come from bats, whose small bites can go unnoticed.