Bat on Wisconsin flight prompts rabies probe

August 12, 2011 By MIKE STOBBE , AP Medical Writer in Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

(AP) -- Health officials say a bat on a flight from Wisconsin to Atlanta last week has sparked a national search for passengers to protect them against possible rabies.

Officials don't know if the bat had . It escaped. But they want to alert passengers of the risk just in case. The says it is trying to reach all 50 people who flew on Delta flight 5121, which departed from Madison, Wis., to Atlanta at 6:45 a.m. on Aug. 5.

If the animal was rabid, people could catch rabies from a bite or exposure to the bat's saliva.

asked anyone on the flight to call 1-866-613-2683. The airline didn't retain the records for all the passengers.

The jet was in the air when the winged animal emerged and a passenger shot a video. Operators of the flight said it could have been a bird. But CDC says its rabies expert believes from the video that it was a bat.

©2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

not rated yet  

Rank not rated yet
Related Stories
Relevant PhysicsForums posts

More news stories

Researchers suggest boosting body's natural flu killers

A known difficulty in fighting influenza (flu) is the ability of the flu viruses to mutate and thus evade various medications that were previously found to be effective. Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created 55 minutes ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Swine flu pandemic of 2009 more deadly for younger adults, study finds

As the world prepares for what may be the next pandemic strain of influenza virus, in the H7N9 bird flu, a new UC Irvine study reveals that the 2009 H1N1 swine flu pandemic was deadliest for people under the age of 65, while ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created 19 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Polio cases found in Kenya and Somalia, WHO says

The World Health Organization says the Horn of Africa is experiencing an outbreak of polio with cases confirmed in Kenya and Somalia.

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created 19 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

SARS-like virus claims new life in Saudi

A man who had contracted the coronavirus has died in Saudi Arabia, raising the death toll in the kingdom from the SARS-like virus to 17, the health ministry announced on its website on Wednesday.

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created 19 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Novel approach for influenza vaccination shows promise in early animal testing

A new approach for immunizing against influenza elicited a more potent immune response and broader protection than the currently licensed seasonal influenza vaccines when tested in mice and ferrets. The vaccine ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created 20 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast


Motion quotient: IQ predicted by ability to filter motion (w/ video)

A brief visual task can predict IQ, according to a new study. This surprisingly simple exercise measures the brain's unconscious ability to filter out visual movement. The study shows that individuals whose ...

Regenerating spinal cord fibers may be treatment for stroke-related disabilities

A study by researchers at Henry Ford Hospital found "substantial evidence" that a regenerative process involving damaged nerve fibers in the spinal cord could hold the key to better functional recovery by most stroke victims.

The secret lives, and deaths, of neurons

As the human body fine-tunes its neurological wiring, nerve cells often must fix a faulty connection by amputating an axon—the "business end" of the neuron that sends electrical impulses to tissues or other ...

Protein preps cells to survive stress of cancer growth and chemotherapy

Scientists have uncovered a survival mechanism that occurs in breast cells that have just turned premalignant-cells on the cusp between normalcy and cancers-which may lead to new methods of stopping tumors.

Anxious men fare worse during job interviews, study finds

Nervous about that upcoming job interview? You might want to take steps to reduce your jitters, especially if you are a man.

Breakthrough on Huntington's disease

Researchers at Lund University have succeeded in preventing very early symptoms of Huntington's disease, depression and anxiety, by deactivating the mutated huntingtin protein in the brains of mice.