Illinois Man Dies After Rabid Bat Bites His Neck, in First Human Case of Rabies Since 1954


CC BY-SA 4.0 / Oasalehm / Vampire bat allogrooming

Maxim Minaev 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has confirmed human rabies in Illinois after laboratory tests for the first time since 1954.

The Illinois Department of Public Health said that a man in his 80s residing in Lake County woke up when he was bitten by a bat. The bat was subsequently caught and tested positive for rabies. The man was advised to consult a specialist, but he refused.

Within a month, he began to feel symptoms of rabies: neck pain, headache, hand tremors, numbness in the fingers and speech impairment. He later died from the illness.

"Rabies has the highest mortality rate of any disease," the Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said as quoted by the CBS News. "However, there is life-saving treatment for individuals who quickly seek care after being exposed to an animal with rabies. If you think you may have been exposed to rabies, immediately seek medical attention and follow the recommendations of health care providers and public health officials."

Experts found a whole colony of these animals in the victim's house.

One to three human cases of rabies are reported annually in the United States. According to reports, 60,000 Americans receive post-exposure rabies vaccinations every year.

The rabies virus enters the nervous system, leads to severe disruption of the brain, and eventually, death occurs. Without preventive treatment, rabies is almost always fatal. In Illinois, the rabies virus is most commonly found in bats.