\t\tReading Time: 2 minutes<\/p>\n
County public health officials\u00a0looking for\u00a0anyone who may have\u00a0come into contact with\u00a0a bat Sunday, July 19 at the Yellow Deli Restaurant in Vista.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The\u202fbat\u00a0landed on a table while a family was eating\u00a0at\u202f1 p.m.\u202fAnother diner used a towel to collect the bat and bring it to the Humane Society in Oceanside.\u00a0The bat\u00a0was then delivered to the County\u2019s Public Health Lab where it tested positive for rabies. No\u00a0direct skin\u00a0contact with the bat\u00a0by an individual\u00a0has been reported\u00a0at this time.\u202f<\/p>\n
If you or someone in your family or group had direct contact with this bat\u202for you know of someone who may have touched\u202fthe\u202fbat,\u202fCounty Public Health Services urges you to call your health care provider as soon as possible.\u00a0\u202fOnly those who\u202fhave\u202fdirect contact with the bat, such as touching or holding the animal, are at risk for rabies.\u202f\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rabies post-exposure prophylaxis is highly effective\u00a0at preventing rabies\u00a0if received before symptoms start. Once\u00a0rabies\u00a0symptoms start there is no treatment\u00a0and rabies is\u00a0almost always\u00a0fatal.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
This is the 22nd bat to test positive for rabies in San Diego County this year. In 2025, 21 bats tested positive.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Public health officials remind residents:\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n
Respect the space of wildlife, do not touch\u00a0or approach\u00a0bats or any wildlife.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n
If you have direct contact with a bat, wash the exposed area with soap and seek medical advice.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rabies symptoms can take weeks to months to appear, and once symptoms begin, the disease is\u202falmost always\u202ffatal. Prompt treatment\u00a0after an exposure\u00a0is highly effective.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rabies\u202fremains\u202frare in humans due to prevention efforts. California\u2019s most recent human rabies case occurred in 2024 in a Fresno County resident who was exposed to a bat in Merced County.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bats play\u202fan important role\u202fin our local ecosystem. Many species of bats live in San Diego County, feeding on insects such as mosquitos. Other bat species feed on nectar from plants and pollinate them in the process. You may\u202fsee bats occasionally around sunset when they are most\u202factive.\u202f\u202fIt is important to respect wildlife and give wild animals space to play their role in our natural environment.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n
Find more information about rabies visit the\u202frabies dashboard<\/a>\u202ffor\u202fadditional\u202finformation\u00a0about\u00a0rabies view the\u202fCounty\u2019s website.<\/a>\u202fFor\u00a0more information about rabies\u00a0post-exposure prophylaxis and\u00a0prevention, you can contact the Epidemiology unit\u00a0(619) 692-8499.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Reading Time: 2 minutes County public health officials\u00a0looking for\u00a0anyone who may have\u00a0come into contact with\u00a0a bat Sunday, July…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":419314,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[27971,1570,167608,27972,74,76,75,9902],"class_list":["post-419313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-bat","tag-health","tag-phs","tag-rabid-bat","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-vista"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=419313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419313\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/419314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=419313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=419313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=419313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}