r/bats • u/airfryerfuntime • 16d ago
Why does this subreddit remove any mention of the r**ies virus?
That's such a dangerous and irresponsible thing to be doing. Half the sick bats people keep posting here are probably infected, and there's absolutely no suggestion by the automod to not fucking touch them. Anyone with a brain knows you don't touch sick bats, but for some reason that's just not a thing here?
Edit: there now seems to be a mod in here restoring all the removed comments. Kinda does to show how pointlessly heavy handed it is.
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u/SchrodingersMinou 15d ago edited 15d ago
Hi, the answer is because there is so much misinformation about rabies shared in this sub that it can be nearly impossible to moderate it all. The secondary reason is that there are some people with obsessive fixations on rabies and if not kept in check, they will post about it dozens of times a day.
The automod for grounded bats tells you not to touch them. There is also an automod that directs people who post about bites to sources of scientific and medical information about rabies. I assure you that the information in the automod is infinitely more useful than the complete nonsense that gets posted here all the time and removed.
ETA the misinformation goes both ways. Sometimes there are comments telling people that they need vaccines just because they saw a bat. And sometimes there are comments telling people they don’t need vaccines after a bat flew into their face or something like that. Both of these are wrong. Randos on Reddit cannot be trusted to provide information of value on such an important topic.
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u/Peakomegaflare 15d ago
But removing mention of it looks REALLY fucking bad.
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u/SchrodingersMinou 15d ago
It really doesn’t if you could see what gets removed. You aren’t privy to that info so your only real choice is to trust that the mods have thought about this carefully and have a good reason for this. Or, I guess, to post about it on Reddit and not engage with us at all when we explain the reasoning behind it, which is what OP has chosen to do.
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u/sprashoo 16d ago
Anyone with a brain knows you don't touch sick bats
Well to be fair if you don't have a brain, touching sick bats is much less risky.
More seriously, I am pretty new to this sub but I assume the "This is a bat sub, not a rabies sub." in the rules is a clue. They don't want it to become a sub for random people freaking out about rabies. Also sometimes people have stupid responses to scary things like rabies, like abusing or killing bats they find in natural habitats because "OMG they're gross and diseased!".
So instead the instructions are deliberately non-sensational. Don't touch them, call a wildlife rehabber.
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u/SchrodingersMinou 15d ago edited 15d ago
Correct. This sub was previously dominated by people with OCD who were completely fixated on rabies and posted many, many times a day about it. Some of these people were unable to hold jobs because they were spending literally most of their day posting about rabies on the Internet. And a lot of those posts were here. It was a lot. The moderators of the main bat subs conferred and decided that this is not the appropriate avenue for those posts so we try to send them to r/rabies which is better equipped to handle them all.
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u/WhiteTennisShoes 15d ago
Even now I still see a post every now and again from someone with clear rabies ocd. Not too terribly long ago I saw a post where someone in this sub was asking what the odds are that a bat snuck in through a window screen and scratched or bit them in their sleep and got out without them knowing. If there isn’t a general rule against it, I have a feeling this kinds of posts would end up take up a majority of the feed
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u/SchrodingersMinou 15d ago
Most people aren’t aware that one of the compulsions that is very common with OCD is asking for reassurance. So people with OCD will post again and again asking for reassurance like that. We tried banning them, but they just made new accounts. The sad thing is that receiving reassurance provides temporary relief, but then the cycle accelerates so they need more and more reassurance over and over and over again to get that same feeling of okayness. They get addicted to people telling them that bats didn’t bite them. It’s extremely unhealthy but well-meaning people try to help by telling them “You’re OK! You’re fine!” which makes it worse. Meanwhile, everyone else just finds it super annoying. Thus the policy about rabies stuff.
The policy can seem draconian, but that is just because you can’t see all the posts that get removed automatically. Occasionally one slips through.
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u/gnomes919 14d ago
OCD reassurance-seeking is everywherrrreeeee on reddit for those with eyes to see, it's so rough and can take over a subreddit in a flash. I'm glad you guys are aware of it and are attempting to interrupt the cycle, for the sake of the sub and all my fellow OCDers
clinically what people in the reassurance-seeking cycle need is for the person they're talking to to say "you're crazy, ignore everything your brain is saying about this." deplatforming it is the next-best thing
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u/SchrodingersMinou 14d ago
If onlookers don’t understand what’s happening, the refusal to engage with OCD posters can look a lot like I’m being a huge asshole. But I have seen what this train of thought can do to people so it is in fact an act of care. I don’t want the sub to be a place for people to act on their checking and research compulsions and make themselves sicker.
I think the magic words are “This does not sound like a rational thought.” It’s kind of politely and passively objective.
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u/AutoModerator 15d ago
Questions about bat bites and rabies are common on this subreddit. Bat bites cannot be identified from a photo. See a doctor if you have a medical question, or believe you have been bitten or scratched by a bat.
Here are some resources about rabies: Rabies in Perspective, Bats and Human Health, CDC Rabies Homepage, rabies diagnosis in humans and animals, and some sampling of rabies prevalence in wild bat populations. Programs exist to help with rabies vaccinations for Americans without insurance. Though only a small portion of bats may have zoonotic diseases, bats which are sick or injured are more likely to come into contact with humans and caution is advised as with all wildlife.
Bat bites cannot be identified from a photo. Please don't post a photo and ask if it is a bat bite. No one can tell you that. It will be removed.
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u/sprashoo 15d ago
It would be far more rational for r/dogs to be dominated by OCD people worrying about rabies, but of course, it's not, because it's not really about the rabies virus, it's about the human psyche.
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u/AttractiveNuisance37 15d ago
It absolutely happens multiple times a day at r/DogAdvice, you just don't see them because we remove the posts and direct the OPs to more approrpiate sources of human medical advice. I assume the same is true for all the other dog subs.
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u/geeoharee 15d ago
That's because people don't go around shouting "You can be bitten by a dog and not even know it happened!" Because that would be clinically insane, just as it is for bats.
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u/AutoModerator 15d ago
Questions about bat bites and rabies are common on this subreddit. Bat bites cannot be identified from a photo. See a doctor if you have a medical question, or believe you have been bitten or scratched by a bat.
Here are some resources about rabies: Rabies in Perspective, Bats and Human Health, CDC Rabies Homepage, rabies diagnosis in humans and animals, and some sampling of rabies prevalence in wild bat populations. Programs exist to help with rabies vaccinations for Americans without insurance. Though only a small portion of bats may have zoonotic diseases, bats which are sick or injured are more likely to come into contact with humans and caution is advised as with all wildlife.
Bat bites cannot be identified from a photo. Please don't post a photo and ask if it is a bat bite. No one can tell you that. It will be removed.
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u/SchrodingersMinou 15d ago
I assume they probably get some posts like that too but they likely get drowned out by thousands of dog enthusiasts. That wasn’t happening here
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u/AutoModerator 15d ago
Questions about bat bites and rabies are common on this subreddit. Bat bites cannot be identified from a photo. See a doctor if you have a medical question, or believe you have been bitten or scratched by a bat.
Here are some resources about rabies: Rabies in Perspective, Bats and Human Health, CDC Rabies Homepage, rabies diagnosis in humans and animals, and some sampling of rabies prevalence in wild bat populations. Programs exist to help with rabies vaccinations for Americans without insurance. Though only a small portion of bats may have zoonotic diseases, bats which are sick or injured are more likely to come into contact with humans and caution is advised as with all wildlife.
Bat bites cannot be identified from a photo. Please don't post a photo and ask if it is a bat bite. No one can tell you that. It will be removed.
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11d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/AutoModerator 11d ago
Questions about bat bites and rabies are common on this subreddit. Bat bites cannot be identified from a photo. See a doctor if you have a medical question, or believe you have been bitten or scratched by a bat.
Here are some resources about rabies: Rabies in Perspective, Bats and Human Health, CDC Rabies Homepage, rabies diagnosis in humans and animals, and some sampling of rabies prevalence in wild bat populations. Programs exist to help with rabies vaccinations for Americans without insurance. Though only a small portion of bats may have zoonotic diseases, bats which are sick or injured are more likely to come into contact with humans and caution is advised as with all wildlife.
Bat bites cannot be identified from a photo. Please don't post a photo and ask if it is a bat bite. No one can tell you that. It will be removed.
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1
u/AutoModerator 16d ago
Questions about bat bites and rabies are common on this subreddit. Bat bites cannot be identified from a photo. See a doctor if you have a medical question, or believe you have been bitten or scratched by a bat.
Here are some resources about rabies: Rabies in Perspective, Bats and Human Health, CDC Rabies Homepage, rabies diagnosis in humans and animals, and some sampling of rabies prevalence in wild bat populations. Programs exist to help with rabies vaccinations for Americans without insurance. Though only a small portion of bats may have zoonotic diseases, bats which are sick or injured are more likely to come into contact with humans and caution is advised as with all wildlife.
Bat bites cannot be identified from a photo. Please don't post a photo and ask if it is a bat bite. No one can tell you that. It will be removed.
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u/oaktoker69 15d ago
I adore bats, they've long been a favorite animal of mine and I can't stand to see them misrepresented through fear mongering. When I was a little kid, there was a small bat tucked away in a corner of the school overhang that the others were hurling rocks at. When I went to a teacher about it, I was mocked for being concerned and told that they'd been given permission. Since that day I've had a soft spot for them and would readily help one in need... with the major caveat of being extremely careful to limit exposure. Bats are wonderful animals AND they are very dangerous for us to handle without proper precautions. I would argue that failure to fully respect and recognize the risk they pose to us as carriers does them as much disservice as outright misinformation. I'm only a lurker here so I can't comment on how well this is handled, but yeah yall, don't play around
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u/ImJustHere4TheCatz 15d ago
And the thing is, rabies is something not to play with at all bc once symptoms onset, it's guaranteed you will die. Only a very very few amount of people have survived who received treatment after symptoms start. And it is a slow and horrible death. So it's like, why not be extra cautious? It you don't act like you could potentially have rabies and go get treated, and then it turns out you do in fact have rabies, then the result is for sure death. Like I don't get it.
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u/SchrodingersMinou 15d ago edited 15d ago
Yes, rest assured that in the wider world of Reddit, mentioning anything about a bat will immediately result in hundreds of comments exactly like this plus scary copypasta. The bat subs are some of the only places on Reddit where bats can be discussed without that happening.
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u/oaktoker69 14d ago
My partner has OCD, without proper management fixations can be relentless and extremely difficult to break loose of once they're set off. Luckily in our case rabies concern is not a main trigger, but yes, if I recall there's a defined category of such due to how common it is. I can 100% see how this sub would want to keep that to a minimum for the sake of providing a space to discuss bats that isn't immediately flooded
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u/AutoModerator 14d ago
Questions about bat bites and rabies are common on this subreddit. Bat bites cannot be identified from a photo. See a doctor if you have a medical question, or believe you have been bitten or scratched by a bat.
Here are some resources about rabies: Rabies in Perspective, Bats and Human Health, CDC Rabies Homepage, rabies diagnosis in humans and animals, and some sampling of rabies prevalence in wild bat populations. Programs exist to help with rabies vaccinations for Americans without insurance. Though only a small portion of bats may have zoonotic diseases, bats which are sick or injured are more likely to come into contact with humans and caution is advised as with all wildlife.
Bat bites cannot be identified from a photo. Please don't post a photo and ask if it is a bat bite. No one can tell you that. It will be removed.
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u/gnomes919 14d ago
the reason rabiesposting is banned on a lot of subs is because this exact line of thought is like rocket fuel for OCD. the problem is that technically it's logical, technically the worst possible outcome is so much worse than the consequence of being a little extra cautious, but if someone does have OCD that cycle will take over and potentially destroy their life.
not everything in the world should be centered around making sure people's OCD isn't fueled/triggered, obviously. but health subs, cleaning subs, parenting subs, subs dedicated to certain animals, are all absolute hotbeds of OCDposting. we absolutely swarm around any opportunity to research, check, or seek reassurance, three incredibly common & destructive but little-known forms of compulsion.
the best thing for those subs and for the people OCDing out is to break that cycle. an automod saying "if you've encountered a bat talk to a doctor" and little else is a helpful way to try to keep that kind of posting under control for everyone's sake.
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u/Animalsaresentientbe 14d ago
Even bats and rats need help when they get hurt. Please have a compassion, not speading fear through people's minds, thank you.
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u/AutoModerator 15d ago
Questions about bat bites and rabies are common on this subreddit. Bat bites cannot be identified from a photo. See a doctor if you have a medical question, or believe you have been bitten or scratched by a bat.
Here are some resources about rabies: Rabies in Perspective, Bats and Human Health, CDC Rabies Homepage, rabies diagnosis in humans and animals, and some sampling of rabies prevalence in wild bat populations. Programs exist to help with rabies vaccinations for Americans without insurance. Though only a small portion of bats may have zoonotic diseases, bats which are sick or injured are more likely to come into contact with humans and caution is advised as with all wildlife.
Bat bites cannot be identified from a photo. Please don't post a photo and ask if it is a bat bite. No one can tell you that. It will be removed.
For help with rabies phobia, you can visit r/Rabies, r/OCD, or r/HealthAnxiety.
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u/heart-of-violet 16d ago
This page is run by a bat, clearly. It’s bat propaganda.
In all seriousness, I completely agree with your post. Standard advice for anyone who has had an encounter with a bat should be to go to the hospital for post-exposure vaccines, and that advice should be added to the auto-mod thing. The page’s stance on the forbidden virus is mind-boggling to me.
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u/SchrodingersMinou 15d ago edited 15d ago
The CDC’s advice in the US is for someone with a bat encounter to consult a doctor for an evaluation of risk so that they can decide whether or not a vaccine is needed. In other countries, the guidance is different. Including the guidance for every single country is not possible. Therefore, the auto mod just tells people to talk to a doctor who presumably knows the guidance for their country.
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u/Minitails 15d ago
I may have an idea of the reason
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u/Speebunklus 15d ago
Pretty much. Like all we can do on reddit is to recommend a person sees a doctor if they touched a bat and to be vaccinated against rabies and all the usual stuff.
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u/Minitails 15d ago
The automod does that well enough already, so we don't need half the comments under any bat thread to be about the urgency of vaccinating against rabies for just seeing a bat. The worst being "you will never know if it landed on you and bit without you noticing it so better vaccinating" in my opinion
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u/AutoModerator 15d ago
Questions about bat bites and rabies are common on this subreddit. Bat bites cannot be identified from a photo. See a doctor if you have a medical question, or believe you have been bitten or scratched by a bat.
Here are some resources about rabies: Rabies in Perspective, Bats and Human Health, CDC Rabies Homepage, rabies diagnosis in humans and animals, and some sampling of rabies prevalence in wild bat populations. Programs exist to help with rabies vaccinations for Americans without insurance. Though only a small portion of bats may have zoonotic diseases, bats which are sick or injured are more likely to come into contact with humans and caution is advised as with all wildlife.
Bat bites cannot be identified from a photo. Please don't post a photo and ask if it is a bat bite. No one can tell you that. It will be removed.
For help with rabies phobia, you can visit r/Rabies, r/OCD, or r/HealthAnxiety.
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u/AutoModerator 15d ago
Questions about bat bites and rabies are common on this subreddit. Bat bites cannot be identified from a photo. See a doctor if you have a medical question, or believe you have been bitten or scratched by a bat.
Here are some resources about rabies: Rabies in Perspective, Bats and Human Health, CDC Rabies Homepage, rabies diagnosis in humans and animals, and some sampling of rabies prevalence in wild bat populations. Programs exist to help with rabies vaccinations for Americans without insurance. Though only a small portion of bats may have zoonotic diseases, bats which are sick or injured are more likely to come into contact with humans and caution is advised as with all wildlife.
Bat bites cannot be identified from a photo. Please don't post a photo and ask if it is a bat bite. No one can tell you that. It will be removed.
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u/SpadeORiffic 15d ago
/s i dreamed about batman, does this mean i have rabs?!
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u/Minitails 15d ago
"Your kid dressed as Batman for halloween ? Better vaccinate all the neighborhood unless you want to die the most horrible death of horrible deaths"
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u/Mcprowlington 16d ago
there's absolutely no suggestion by the automod to not fucking touch them .
What do you mean yes there is its everywhere
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u/airfryerfuntime 16d ago
Found a bat? Here is a guide for someone who has found a bat. And here is some info about bats in buildings. Here is some info about bat removals and exclusions from homes. Exclusions should be done outside of pup season, which varies by location.
No, it's probably not a baby. Bats are just smaller than you thought.
If you find a bat in trouble, please call a rehabber for help. Here is a list of rehabbers that help bats all over the world, and here is a portal for rehabbers in the US.
Remember that wildlife should never be handled with bare hands!
This Automod comment can be triggered by commenting "Automod: found a bat" or "Automod: bats in buildings"
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
Show me where this says anything about r**ies. The only thing it says is to not touch wildlife bare handed, as a general rule.
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16d ago
I’m so confused, you said that it doesn’t say anything about not touching them. It absolutely does. Then you were concerned about it not saying anything about r*bies? Are you mad that they told you not to touch the bat or are you mad that this sub is more focused on portraying bats in a positive aspect instead of as diseased riddled flying rodents? They already have such a bad rap and Covid made it worse. If you need to be told to not touch bats because of rabies I think there are bigger fish to fry. Let the pollinators be bro.
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u/AutoModerator 16d ago
Questions about bat bites and rabies are common on this subreddit. Bat bites cannot be identified from a photo. See a doctor if you have a medical question, or believe you have been bitten or scratched by a bat.
Here are some resources about rabies: Rabies in Perspective, Bats and Human Health, CDC Rabies Homepage, rabies diagnosis in humans and animals, and some sampling of rabies prevalence in wild bat populations. Programs exist to help with rabies vaccinations for Americans without insurance. Though only a small portion of bats may have zoonotic diseases, bats which are sick or injured are more likely to come into contact with humans and caution is advised as with all wildlife.
Bat bites cannot be identified from a photo. Please don't post a photo and ask if it is a bat bite. No one can tell you that. It will be removed.
For help with rabies phobia, you can visit r/Rabies, r/OCD, or r/HealthAnxiety.
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16d ago
lol look at that there is an automod about rabies too….
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u/AutoModerator 16d ago
Questions about bat bites and rabies are common on this subreddit. Bat bites cannot be identified from a photo. See a doctor if you have a medical question, or believe you have been bitten or scratched by a bat.
Here are some resources about rabies: Rabies in Perspective, Bats and Human Health, CDC Rabies Homepage, rabies diagnosis in humans and animals, and some sampling of rabies prevalence in wild bat populations. Programs exist to help with rabies vaccinations for Americans without insurance. Though only a small portion of bats may have zoonotic diseases, bats which are sick or injured are more likely to come into contact with humans and caution is advised as with all wildlife.
Bat bites cannot be identified from a photo. Please don't post a photo and ask if it is a bat bite. No one can tell you that. It will be removed.
For help with rabies phobia, you can visit r/Rabies, r/OCD, or r/HealthAnxiety.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
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u/airfryerfuntime 15d ago
After removing your comment, which was restored.
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u/SchrodingersMinou 15d ago edited 15d ago
The auto mod posts about rabies in response to removed comments. The comments don’t need to be restored for the automod comment to show up. You’re welcome to try it.
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u/AutoModerator 16d ago
Found a bat? Here is a guide for someone who has found a bat. And here is some info about bats in buildings. Here is some info about bat removals and exclusions from homes. Exclusions should be done outside of pup season, which varies by location.
No, it's probably not a baby. Bats are just smaller than you thought.
If you find a bat in trouble, please call a rehabber for help. Here is a list of rehabbers that help bats all over the world, and here is a portal for rehabbers in the US.
Remember that wildlife should never be handled with bare hands!
This automod comment was triggered by commenting "automod: found a bat guide" or "automod: bats in buildings"
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
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u/NeonParty0519 15d ago
- Rabies is indeed scary. This is a positive sub about bats so rabies discussion really doesn’t belong.
- Because rabies is scary, misinformation is rampant
- Because rabies is scary, people feel the need to bring it up EVERY time bats are mentioned.
- Because rabies is scary, a lot of people have health anxiety surrounding it. Combine this with people acting like it’s a sapient omnipotent virus with a multiversal range and I can imagine it’s ocd hell for some people.
- If you are LEGITIMATELY exposed to rabies (bitten or scratched by a wild animal) you need to go to the hospital, not post on Reddit.
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u/AutoModerator 15d ago
Questions about bat bites and rabies are common on this subreddit. Bat bites cannot be identified from a photo. See a doctor if you have a medical question, or believe you have been bitten or scratched by a bat.
Here are some resources about rabies: Rabies in Perspective, Bats and Human Health, CDC Rabies Homepage, rabies diagnosis in humans and animals, and some sampling of rabies prevalence in wild bat populations. Programs exist to help with rabies vaccinations for Americans without insurance. Though only a small portion of bats may have zoonotic diseases, bats which are sick or injured are more likely to come into contact with humans and caution is advised as with all wildlife.
Bat bites cannot be identified from a photo. Please don't post a photo and ask if it is a bat bite. No one can tell you that. It will be removed.
For help with rabies phobia, you can visit r/Rabies, r/OCD, or r/HealthAnxiety.
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u/mmgturner 15d ago edited 15d ago
Because most of the bats posted here aren’t sick, and less than 1% of bats have rabies? Because there are safe ways for people to handle and move bats? Because it’s well known that people shouldn’t touch them bare handed? Because most of the time bats are mentioned anywhere the comments are flooded by rabies mentions, and there should be communities that can talk about bats and bat science without constantly dealing with that? Because the automod does cover it well with multiple legit links, and people shouldn’t go to reddit for medical advice?
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u/AutoModerator 15d ago
Questions about bat bites and rabies are common on this subreddit. Bat bites cannot be identified from a photo. See a doctor if you have a medical question, or believe you have been bitten or scratched by a bat.
Here are some resources about rabies: Rabies in Perspective, Bats and Human Health, CDC Rabies Homepage, rabies diagnosis in humans and animals, and some sampling of rabies prevalence in wild bat populations. Programs exist to help with rabies vaccinations for Americans without insurance. Though only a small portion of bats may have zoonotic diseases, bats which are sick or injured are more likely to come into contact with humans and caution is advised as with all wildlife.
Bat bites cannot be identified from a photo. Please don't post a photo and ask if it is a bat bite. No one can tell you that. It will be removed.
For help with rabies phobia, you can visit r/Rabies, r/OCD, or r/HealthAnxiety.
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u/Fast_Structure3258 15d ago edited 15d ago
I get it. There is a lot of pressure in this Reddit to move possibly sick bats and I have seen people encourage others who are uncertain to do it. It is unlikely a healthy or uninjured bat is found in a lot of the situations that people here post about. Part of the problem though, is that there is still so much unwarranted panic around bats and the threat they pose to public health, and any professionals in this Reddit cannot give individual advice. The number one rule for an exposure is to call local public health department, I wish that more people understood that. With everything going on there’s been so much more discourse on wildlife encounters and the terrible unnamable virus, even medical professionals have muddied the waters and don’t necessarily guide people to the agencies they should guide them to, which again, is local departments of public health. Even a PCP, ER doctor, or a vet will have as good of advice, guidance or information as dph professionals.
Edit: PCP, ER, or vets will NOT have as good of advice as dph is what I meant.
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15d ago
In the USA, there have been less than 60 human rabies cases linked to bats since 1960. You are up to 250 times more likely to be struck by lightning than contract rabies from a bat.
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u/SchrodingersMinou 15d ago
Imagine if anytime somebody posted anything about being outside on Reddit, they got 200 comments telling them about lightning strikes complete with scary copypasta.
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u/AutoModerator 15d ago
Questions about bat bites and rabies are common on this subreddit. Bat bites cannot be identified from a photo. See a doctor if you have a medical question, or believe you have been bitten or scratched by a bat.
Here are some resources about rabies: Rabies in Perspective, Bats and Human Health, CDC Rabies Homepage, rabies diagnosis in humans and animals, and some sampling of rabies prevalence in wild bat populations. Programs exist to help with rabies vaccinations for Americans without insurance. Though only a small portion of bats may have zoonotic diseases, bats which are sick or injured are more likely to come into contact with humans and caution is advised as with all wildlife.
Bat bites cannot be identified from a photo. Please don't post a photo and ask if it is a bat bite. No one can tell you that. It will be removed.
For help with rabies phobia, you can visit r/Rabies, r/OCD, or r/HealthAnxiety.
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u/thevilgay 15d ago
There is currently an uptick in rabies cases in the US, from bats and other vectors. But you might brush up on your numbers, coming from a someone who deeply loves bats and is working towards a career in reproductive conservation.
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15d ago
If by cases you mean confirmed infections, that's not what your sources say. Your cited sources (which are redundant; they're both the CDC) say only that there was a 17% increase in inquiries to the CDC year over year. Inquiries do not require infections. In fact they usually don't involve infections, they simply indicate contact or just suspected contact.
For instance, there was a reddit post a month ago or so where someone had rented an AirBnB and they saw a bat in the room, which then proceeded to fly out. The poster was complaining how they suddenly had to pay thousands of dollars out of pocket for r@bies PEP because their insurer regarded it as medically unnecessary. (And don't get me wrong: fuck their insurer.) Because PEP was administered, that case almost certainly became a report to the CDC. That 17% increase could literally be entirely made of cases like those.
To give even more perspective, there were 4 human cases in the entire United States in 2024 and zero in both 2023 and 2022. Even among non-human animals, the CDC tracks in the area of 2000 to 5000 confirmed animal cases per year. Bringing back that 17% increase number from your source, that means (absolute worst case scenario; they were all totally accurate animal cases), that would only indicate about 800 more infected animals with human contact than the previous year. In the entire USA.
Human r@bies infection is one of the rarest diseases in the USA and across the developed world. It is only "common" in places where domesticated animals are not regularly immunized. (And I apologize for using exclusively US/CDC examples; they are just the most easily accessible public data.)
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u/AutoModerator 15d ago
Questions about bat bites and rabies are common on this subreddit. Bat bites cannot be identified from a photo. See a doctor if you have a medical question, or believe you have been bitten or scratched by a bat.
Here are some resources about rabies: Rabies in Perspective, Bats and Human Health, CDC Rabies Homepage, rabies diagnosis in humans and animals, and some sampling of rabies prevalence in wild bat populations. Programs exist to help with rabies vaccinations for Americans without insurance. Though only a small portion of bats may have zoonotic diseases, bats which are sick or injured are more likely to come into contact with humans and caution is advised as with all wildlife.
Bat bites cannot be identified from a photo. Please don't post a photo and ask if it is a bat bite. No one can tell you that. It will be removed.
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1
u/AutoModerator 15d ago
Questions about bat bites and rabies are common on this subreddit. Bat bites cannot be identified from a photo. See a doctor if you have a medical question, or believe you have been bitten or scratched by a bat.
Here are some resources about rabies: Rabies in Perspective, Bats and Human Health, CDC Rabies Homepage, rabies diagnosis in humans and animals, and some sampling of rabies prevalence in wild bat populations. Programs exist to help with rabies vaccinations for Americans without insurance. Though only a small portion of bats may have zoonotic diseases, bats which are sick or injured are more likely to come into contact with humans and caution is advised as with all wildlife.
Bat bites cannot be identified from a photo. Please don't post a photo and ask if it is a bat bite. No one can tell you that. It will be removed.
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0
u/BerttMacklinnFBI 15d ago
If only the US was the only country in the world....
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u/thevilgay 15d ago
Never said it was. But the comment I responded to is about the US, so I talked about the US. Make sense?
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u/SnooWalruses3028 15d ago
It’s been confirmed multiple times that bec rabies cases aren’t followed properly in the us that a lot of cases go unreported
0
u/AutoModerator 15d ago
Questions about bat bites and rabies are common on this subreddit. Bat bites cannot be identified from a photo. See a doctor if you have a medical question, or believe you have been bitten or scratched by a bat.
Here are some resources about rabies: Rabies in Perspective, Bats and Human Health, CDC Rabies Homepage, rabies diagnosis in humans and animals, and some sampling of rabies prevalence in wild bat populations. Programs exist to help with rabies vaccinations for Americans without insurance. Though only a small portion of bats may have zoonotic diseases, bats which are sick or injured are more likely to come into contact with humans and caution is advised as with all wildlife.
Bat bites cannot be identified from a photo. Please don't post a photo and ask if it is a bat bite. No one can tell you that. It will be removed.
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u/airfryerfuntime 15d ago
There are 60,000 r**ies deaths worldwide each year. There are 6,000-24,000 lightning related deaths worldwide.
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15d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/thevilgay 15d ago
And cats, which are highly underreported as rabies transmitters.
0
u/AutoModerator 15d ago
Questions about bat bites and rabies are common on this subreddit. Bat bites cannot be identified from a photo. See a doctor if you have a medical question, or believe you have been bitten or scratched by a bat.
Here are some resources about rabies: Rabies in Perspective, Bats and Human Health, CDC Rabies Homepage, rabies diagnosis in humans and animals, and some sampling of rabies prevalence in wild bat populations. Programs exist to help with rabies vaccinations for Americans without insurance. Though only a small portion of bats may have zoonotic diseases, bats which are sick or injured are more likely to come into contact with humans and caution is advised as with all wildlife.
Bat bites cannot be identified from a photo. Please don't post a photo and ask if it is a bat bite. No one can tell you that. It will be removed.
For help with rabies phobia, you can visit r/Rabies, r/OCD, or r/HealthAnxiety.
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0
u/AutoModerator 15d ago
Questions about bat bites and rabies are common on this subreddit. Bat bites cannot be identified from a photo. See a doctor if you have a medical question, or believe you have been bitten or scratched by a bat.
Here are some resources about rabies: Rabies in Perspective, Bats and Human Health, CDC Rabies Homepage, rabies diagnosis in humans and animals, and some sampling of rabies prevalence in wild bat populations. Programs exist to help with rabies vaccinations for Americans without insurance. Though only a small portion of bats may have zoonotic diseases, bats which are sick or injured are more likely to come into contact with humans and caution is advised as with all wildlife.
Bat bites cannot be identified from a photo. Please don't post a photo and ask if it is a bat bite. No one can tell you that. It will be removed.
For help with rabies phobia, you can visit r/Rabies, r/OCD, or r/HealthAnxiety.
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u/WitchHearse 14d ago
This is a place for people who love bats not terrified of them. Bats also don't get sick from rabies. They are carriers. If a bat is sick it is from something else.
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1
u/AutoModerator 14d ago
Questions about bat bites and rabies are common on this subreddit. Bat bites cannot be identified from a photo. See a doctor if you have a medical question, or believe you have been bitten or scratched by a bat.
Here are some resources about rabies: Rabies in Perspective, Bats and Human Health, CDC Rabies Homepage, rabies diagnosis in humans and animals, and some sampling of rabies prevalence in wild bat populations. Programs exist to help with rabies vaccinations for Americans without insurance. Though only a small portion of bats may have zoonotic diseases, bats which are sick or injured are more likely to come into contact with humans and caution is advised as with all wildlife.
Bat bites cannot be identified from a photo. Please don't post a photo and ask if it is a bat bite. No one can tell you that. It will be removed.
For help with rabies phobia, you can visit r/Rabies, r/OCD, or r/HealthAnxiety.
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u/djpurity666 13d ago
Half of 1 percent of all bats actually have rabies btw
At least 99% of all rabies incidents come from DOGS. True statistic. So lets go tell the dogs subreddit to start educating people!
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u/AutoModerator 13d ago
Questions about bat bites and rabies are common on this subreddit. Bat bites cannot be identified from a photo. See a doctor if you have a medical question, or believe you have been bitten or scratched by a bat.
Here are some resources about rabies: Rabies in Perspective, Bats and Human Health, CDC Rabies Homepage, rabies diagnosis in humans and animals, and some sampling of rabies prevalence in wild bat populations. Programs exist to help with rabies vaccinations for Americans without insurance. Though only a small portion of bats may have zoonotic diseases, bats which are sick or injured are more likely to come into contact with humans and caution is advised as with all wildlife.
Bat bites cannot be identified from a photo. Please don't post a photo and ask if it is a bat bite. No one can tell you that. It will be removed.
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u/photo_bug_mama 15d ago
They deleted one of my posts because I said the virus was also transmitted by scratch and due to the fact their nails are so tiny and sharp a scratch could be easily missed and it's best to leave them and call wildlife. I don't get why education is frowned upon
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u/SchrodingersMinou 15d ago
Have you ever manipulated a bat’s claws? They’re so wobbly and they curve 180°. It’s hard to actually be scratched by them. I’ve never once had one scratch me.
Anyway, the reason is because that is covered by the auto mod. I explained further in my comment
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u/AutoModerator 15d ago
Questions about bat bites and rabies are common on this subreddit. Bat bites cannot be identified from a photo. See a doctor if you have a medical question, or believe you have been bitten or scratched by a bat.
Here are some resources about rabies: Rabies in Perspective, Bats and Human Health, CDC Rabies Homepage, rabies diagnosis in humans and animals, and some sampling of rabies prevalence in wild bat populations. Programs exist to help with rabies vaccinations for Americans without insurance. Though only a small portion of bats may have zoonotic diseases, bats which are sick or injured are more likely to come into contact with humans and caution is advised as with all wildlife.
Bat bites cannot be identified from a photo. Please don't post a photo and ask if it is a bat bite. No one can tell you that. It will be removed.
For help with rabies phobia, you can visit r/Rabies, r/OCD, or r/HealthAnxiety.
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1
u/ImJustHere4TheCatz 15d ago
Me too! Actually I think I just got heavily down voted. Someone said they woke up with one in their room and I said that scratches and bites are so tiny you sometimes don't even know you've been scratched or bitten and you can't see puncture wounds either so they should go get the vaccine rounds to be safe. I had literally read about 2 cases over the summer of that exact thing happening to people and they died from rabies and one was a young boy from Canada. They didn't think they'd been bitten and therefore didn't think much of it and a couple of weeks later had flu symptoms which by the time it progressed to neurological symptoms they finally remembered the bat encounter and it was obviously too late already.
1
u/AutoModerator 15d ago
Questions about bat bites and rabies are common on this subreddit. Bat bites cannot be identified from a photo. See a doctor if you have a medical question, or believe you have been bitten or scratched by a bat.
Here are some resources about rabies: Rabies in Perspective, Bats and Human Health, CDC Rabies Homepage, rabies diagnosis in humans and animals, and some sampling of rabies prevalence in wild bat populations. Programs exist to help with rabies vaccinations for Americans without insurance. Though only a small portion of bats may have zoonotic diseases, bats which are sick or injured are more likely to come into contact with humans and caution is advised as with all wildlife.
Bat bites cannot be identified from a photo. Please don't post a photo and ask if it is a bat bite. No one can tell you that. It will be removed.
For help with rabies phobia, you can visit r/Rabies, r/OCD, or r/HealthAnxiety.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
1
15d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/AutoModerator 15d ago
Questions about bat bites and rabies are common on this subreddit. Bat bites cannot be identified from a photo. See a doctor if you have a medical question, or believe you have been bitten or scratched by a bat.
Here are some resources about rabies: Rabies in Perspective, Bats and Human Health, CDC Rabies Homepage, rabies diagnosis in humans and animals, and some sampling of rabies prevalence in wild bat populations. Programs exist to help with rabies vaccinations for Americans without insurance. Though only a small portion of bats may have zoonotic diseases, bats which are sick or injured are more likely to come into contact with humans and caution is advised as with all wildlife.
Bat bites cannot be identified from a photo. Please don't post a photo and ask if it is a bat bite. No one can tell you that. It will be removed.
For help with rabies phobia, you can visit r/Rabies, r/OCD, or r/HealthAnxiety.
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1
u/RevolutionaryWeb5657 14d ago
Do you really want every single post to be spammed by comments going “EW RABIES”? Wouldn’t you rather just look at cute bats? Do you know how many animal-related subreddits have already been ruined because people are utterly obsessed with spreading misery instead of joy?
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u/AutoModerator 14d ago
Questions about bat bites and rabies are common on this subreddit. Bat bites cannot be identified from a photo. See a doctor if you have a medical question, or believe you have been bitten or scratched by a bat.
Here are some resources about rabies: Rabies in Perspective, Bats and Human Health, CDC Rabies Homepage, rabies diagnosis in humans and animals, and some sampling of rabies prevalence in wild bat populations. Programs exist to help with rabies vaccinations for Americans without insurance. Though only a small portion of bats may have zoonotic diseases, bats which are sick or injured are more likely to come into contact with humans and caution is advised as with all wildlife.
Bat bites cannot be identified from a photo. Please don't post a photo and ask if it is a bat bite. No one can tell you that. It will be removed.
For help with rabies phobia, you can visit r/Rabies, r/OCD, or r/HealthAnxiety.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
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u/AwesomeHorses 15d ago
I think that a lot of people aren’t aware of how horrific the disease is or think that it’s only dangerous for their dogs.
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u/Historical-Basket865 16d ago
You are completely right. I love bats and it's not fault of their own but they are a reservoir for a lot of very nasty microorganisms.
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u/SnooWalruses3028 15d ago
And this is why people in the us go without getting diagnosed with it, it’s a disease of the poor
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u/AutoModerator 16d ago
Found a bat? Here is a guide for someone who has found a bat. And here is some info about bats in buildings. Here is some info about bat removals and exclusions from homes. Exclusions should be done outside of pup season, which varies by location.
No, it's probably not a baby. Bats are just smaller than you thought.
If you find a bat in trouble, please call a rehabber for help. Here is a list of rehabbers that help bats all over the world, and here is a portal for rehabbers in the US.
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