By Bruce Mackenzie
A northern New South Wales man has died after contracting the state’s first confirmed case of Australian bat lyssavirus.
The news comes after NSW Health issued a statement on Wednesday that the man, in his 50s, had received treatment after a bat bit him several months ago.
It said there was no effective treatment once symptoms of the virus appear and an investigation was underway to establish whether other exposures or factors contributed to the man’s infection.
It is the fourth case recorded in Australia.
NSW Health describes lyssavirus as a “rabies-like infection” that affects the central nervous system.
It is transmitted from infected bats to humans via a bite or scratch.
NSW Health is warning people not to touch bats.
Trish Patterson-Wimberley, a wildlife carer for more than 30 years who ran the Australian Bat Clinic and Wildlife Trauma Centre in Queensland, said bat-to-human transmission of the disease was “very rare” and there was no way to effectively treat it.
“Once you get it you pretty much die and that鈥檚 why we as carers have the vaccination,” she said.
“But if you don鈥檛 touch [a] bat, you can鈥檛 get bitten or scratched.
“There鈥檚 no other way to get lyssavirus other than [from] a bite or a scratch.”
The virus has been found in species of flying foxes, fruit bats and insect-eating 鈥媘icrobats.
More to come.