THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 30, 1995 TAG: 9508300521
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY NANCY LEWIS, CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Long : 103 lines
Samantha Casey just couldn't resist plucking the furry brown creature from the towel it clung to on a neighbor boy's back.
``It looked like a sea pod,'' she recalls.
Thrilled with her find, Samantha hurried to her best friend's house.
Kristy Morrill also couldn't keep her hands off the cute little mammal.
``It was so soft - like my kitten Gus,'' she says.
As the curious 8-year-olds were soon to learn, the furry little animal they'd chanced upon was neither playful as a kitten nor harmless as a skate case washed ashore on a beach. The brown bat was infected with rabies.
Kristy became the latest victim in a three-year rabies epidemic that has hit Virginia Beach on its way north. Since 1992, 35 animals have tested positive for rabies and 60 people have been referred for treatment.
Seven cases of animal rabies have been confirmed in the city this year. Kristy was bitten Aug. 22, and health officials confirmed another new case of animal rabies Tuesday after a dog killed a rabid raccoon.
Since the epidemic began, only two of the rabid animals have been bats, which makes Kristy's case unusual.
Kristy was so excited to be holding a real live bat that she ran to the back door of her Tappanzee Court home and told her mother.
``I thought she meant she had a baseball bat,'' remembers Lori Morrill.
``I thought they were just messing with us when they said it was something little and black,'' says Billi Casey, Samantha's mom.
The two mothers were sewing and had their backs turned to the sliding glass doors in the Morrill dining room.
``But when she squealed, then I jumped up out of the chair,'' says Lori Morrill.
The bat had sunk its tiny, pointed teeth into Kristy's right index finger.
The two girls are now undergoing a series of seven shots to protect them from rabies, which can be deadly if left untreated.
When the girls' mothers spotted the bat attached to the siding of the house close to the ground, they knew what to do.
``I got the broom, and we tried to get it into a shoebox,'' says Lori Morrill. ``It squeaked when I shoved the cookie sheet under it. But it had its little wings tucked up, and I felt sorry for it.''
After containing the bat, the mothers consoled the girls and had them wash their hands. Then they called the city's Animal Control Bureau.
The next morning, Lori got a call from Vanessa Cooper, a rabies control specialist with the Virginia Beach Health Department.
Rabies is invariably fatal if treatment is not started before symptoms appear, which can take anywhere from two weeks to several months, says Cooper.
``It's a virus like AIDS,'' Cooper said. ``It can lie dormant for a long time before it manifests itself.''
Samantha consoled her friend about having to take the shots. ``She told her, `Don't worry, it will be all right,' until she found out she had to get them, too,'' says Billi Casey of her daughter's reaction to the next phone call.
Because a bat's skin is moist and membranous, rabies can be contracted simply by handling, said Cooper, who tracked down four boys who also had played with the bat in the Wadsworth Homes military housing community. One of the boys had found the animal in his back yard.
The four boys are also being treated for rabies exposure.
While most cases of animal rabies involve wild raccoons, domestic animals are not immune - unless they've been vaccinated, Cooper said, citing the Aug. 14 case of a Great Neck area man who handled his dog after its ruckus with a raccoon in his back yard.
The man had been working in his yard and had scratched his hands. Because saliva from the dog's mouth could have entered the open wounds, he had to be treated.
Of the girls' reaction to the bat adventure, Lori Morrill says, ``They thought it was very funny until they had to bare their tushes for those shots, then it got really serious.''
The shot ``hurt a little,'' says Samantha.
``But I didn't squeal like when I got bit by the bat,'' says Kristy.
The two girls are rising third-graders at Birdneck Elementary School.
If the girls find another bat they now know what to do.
``Leave it alone,'' says Kristy.
``And tell an adult,'' adds Samantha. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
MORT FRYMAN/Staff
Kristy Morrill, 8, with her kitten Gus, is taking the anti-rabies
shots after a bat bit her.
Graphic
PREVENTION TIPS
Report all animal bites to your local Animal Control Bureau or
health department.
Do not try to touch or pick up live, sick or dead bats.
Do not approach wild animals, especially bats, raccoons,
opossums, foxes, skunks, or stray dogs and cats.
Confine your pets to your property.
Insure all pet dogs and cats have a current rabies vaccination.
Reduced cost rabies shots will be available in Virginia Beach from 2
to 5 p.m. Sept. 16 at Salem Middle School, Pembroke Mall and the
Courthouse Fire Station. Call 491-5940 for more information.
by CNB