Crime & Safety
Rabid Bat Caught in Arlington Heights Home
This is the 3rd report in the past week of a bat with the disease being found in the Chicago suburbs.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, IL—A bat caught in an Arlington Heights home tested positive for rabies, police reported Wednesday.
Animal control officials captured the bat May 27 in a house in the 400 block of North Haddow Avenue, and the Illinois Department of Public Health determined the animal carried rabies, according to an Arlington Heights police statement.
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This discovery has led Cook County Animal and Rabies Control to issue a warning to residents to avoid any contact with bats, dead or alive, so they don't risk being exposed to the disease. Rabies can be contracted through bat bites or by bat saliva entering open wounds, eyes, mouth and nose. If this happens, residents should contact a doctor immediately.
The bat in Arlington Heights is the third one with rabies that's been reported in the suburbs recently. A dead rabid bat was discovered May 24 in a La Grange home, and a living bat caught in Aurora was found Tuesday to be carrying rabies, the Chicago Tribune reports.
Find out what's happening in Arlington Heightsfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Go to the Illinois Department of Public Health website for more information about rabies control.
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