Sensitivity to chicken and eggs = flu shot?

[nerdhume]

Now that you've told me about the Ebola issue with bats (on top of the almost constant rabies problem around here Rolling Eyes), I'm beginning to view the little buggers as something less than the furry, cuddly image that is typically promoted for them

I assure you I had a much different image. A few years back my granddaughter and I visited Austin. They have a huge population of bats that live under a bridge right in the middle of the city. We went there about dusk to see them come out. There were tall fences to keep people from going under the bridge where they live. There were signs everywhere warning NOT to touch any dead bats. Considering the way they live I can imagine a virus spreading and wiping out the whole group.
I have heard they carry rabies and do not die from it is that true?

[tex]

Hi Theresa,

As far as I am aware, all mammals are susceptible to rabies, and the disease is virtually always fatal for all species. I say "virtually always" because exceptions do exist. Researchers have found that a small percentage of certain individuals who live in a heavily bat-infested area of Peru have survived rabies, and a small percentage of the population in that area carry antibodies to rabies in their blood (even though they were never vaccinated).

I did a search, and I couldn't find any evidence that bats are asymptomatic carriers of rabies. There is an incubation period of course, but once the disease is triggered, symptoms develop and the bat eventually dies. According to statistics, the evidence indicates that worldwide, dog bites are the cause of most human rabies cases. But in this country (presumably due to dog vaccination programs), bats are the main cause of rabies in humans.

Tex