Fatal Human Rabies Caused by European Bat Lyssavirus Type 2a Infection in Scotland

• Published in: Clinical infectious diseases Vol. 37; no. 4; pp. 598 - 601
• Main Authors: Nathwani, D., McIntyre, P. G., White, K., Shearer, A. J., Reynolds, N., Walker, D., Orange, G. V., Fooks, A. R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chicago, IL The University of Chicago Press 15-08-2003; University of Chicago Press
• Subjects: Animal hospitals; Animals; Bats; Biological and medical sciences; Bites and Stings; Brief Reports; Chiroptera - virology; Fatal Outcome; Hospitalization; Human viral diseases; Humans; Infections; Infectious diseases; Lyssavirus; Lyssavirus - isolation & purification; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Rabies; Rabies - mortality; Rabies - virology; Rhabdoviridae Infections - mortality; Rhabdoviridae Infections - virology; Saliva; Scotland; Upper extremity; Viral diseases; Viral diseases of the nervous system; Viruses; United Kingdom; Scotland; Great Britain; Europe; Human; Nervous system diseases; Fatal course; Infection; Virus; Mononegavirales; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Rhabdoviridae; Viral disease; Rabies; Lyssavirus; Chiroptera
• ISSN: 1058-4838; 1537-6591
• DOI: 10.1086/376641

We wish to report the first recorded case of indigenous human rabies caused by a bat bite in the United Kingdom in 100 years. This instructive case report highlights a number of key lessons: first, bites from insectivorous bats indiginous to the United Kingdom can cause rabies in humans; second, rabies immunization is essential for bat-handlers, and postexposure treatment for rabies is essential for patients bitten by bats; third, patients able to give a history who present with acute flaccid paralysis and/or presumptive viral encephalitis should be asked if they have been bitten by bats, irrespective of travel history, or this history should be obtained from family or friends; fourth, antemortem diagnosis of bat rabies (EBLV type 2a infection) in humans is possible using RT-PCR.