Bat Diseases | Humane Wildlife Control – The Skunk Whisperer Way

Bats Disease And Guano Related Concerns

It’s true, bats can carry and transmit disease, and about 1% of bats carry rabies and some may carry lice.

However, looking at the big picture, these odds are small and bats are more beneficial than harmful, as long as they’re not in buildings. Regarding diseases other than rabies, according to the C.D.C. (Center for Disease control) bats are natural reservoirs, or vectors of several zoonotic infections. These include: severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) Henipavirus, Nipah, and Hendra. Regarding Guano, Hystoplasmosis can be a scare with bats – but in a building, it is not typically a concern. This is because the right conditions must be present to produce this zoonotic infection. If you lived in a damp cave or in the wet, humid sewer systems of a large city, we would be more concerned, but not as concerned when talking about the hot dry attic or ceiling of a building. Just the same, it is important to know that Hystoplasmosis is a serious respiratory disorder that can kill you. Guano MAY produce a mold. That mold MAY produce a fungus. That fungus MAY produce a spore. That spore MAY produce hystoplasmosis. And then, hystoplasmosis MAY kill you or MAY give you ocular hystoplasmosis. But typically, concerns about this are overstated and unfounded. Evict the bats and clean up as much guano as possible is the mission.