A Pilbara resident says she did not realise how serious a bat bite could be until she experienced it herself. A very small number of bats carry the deadly lyssavirus which is communicable to humans. The unlucky woman is undergoing a painful course of preventive treatment.
Treating bat bites as serious in areas with lyssavirus, which is incurable once it starts showing symptoms, is very typical. Transmission to humans is uncommon but ruling it out is literally deadly serious.
Incurable once you’re symptomatic, and, to be totally clear for anyone not aware, invariably fatal. It’s a horrible death, too. Also, the incubation period can be anywhere from a few weeks to two years.
The ABC article could have benefited from making that clearer. It calls the virus ‘deadly’, but doesn’t impress upon the reader just how deadly.
Well, I was thinking more about the other ones.