Virginia Doctor Wakes To Bat Trying To Crawl Into Her Mouth

RICHMOND, VA — A Richmond doctor thought she was dreaming about a mouse trying to crawl into her mouth. Then she reached toward her face and felt something "slimy and a little hairy and cool."

It was a bat.

Dr. Krista Edelman, a gastroenterologist with Richmond Gastroenterology Associates, recounted the unusual encounter in an Instagram video that has drawn more than 24,000 likes.

Edelman said she was half asleep when she initially believed she was dreaming. After touching the animal, however, she quickly realized what was happening.

"This bat was legitimately trying to burrow between my lips into my mouth," Edelman said. "How it didn't get past my teeth, I have no idea."

Edelman grabbed the bat and threw it across the room before waking her husband and telling him what happened. Her husband initially grabbed a T-ball bat, but Edelman, drawing on her medical training, knew it was important to capture the animal for rabies testing.

Instead, her husband put on gloves, and the couple used a bucket to contain the bat. Richmond Animal Care and Control later collected it for testing.

The bat ultimately tested negative for rabies, Edelman told WTVR.

Before those results were available, however, Edelman wasn't taking any chances. Because she had direct contact with the bat — and her husband potentially had as well — she went to the emergency room at Bon Secours St. Mary's Hospital.

Edelman said she received rabies immune globulin and the first dose of the rabies vaccine because she had never previously been vaccinated against the disease. She was initially preparing to receive additional vaccine doses as part of the post-exposure series.

Her experience also came with a warning for other Richmond residents, particularly those living in older homes.

"Moral of the story is get your exterminator to come out and check your attic and your chimneys, especially if you live in an old house in Richmond like I do," Edelman said.

What To Do If You Find A Bat

Edelman's decision to take the encounter seriously aligns with guidance from the Virginia Department of Health, which considers bats a high-risk species for rabies. Because bat bites and scratches can be small and go unnoticed, potential exposures are evaluated differently from encounters with many other animals.

State health officials recommend seeking medical advice even without an obvious bite in certain situations, including waking to find a bat in the room or finding one in a room with an unattended child or someone unable to say whether contact occurred.

If a bat may have exposed someone, do not release or discard it. Officials recommend safely containing the animal without handling it directly and contacting local animal control or the health department to determine whether it should be tested. Anyone bitten should thoroughly wash the wound with soap and water and contact a health care provider immediately.

Officials also recommend keeping bats out of living spaces by sealing openings and using screens or chimney caps.