title: Risk for rabies transmission from encounters with bats, Colorado, 1977-1996.
abstract: To assess the risk for rabies transmission to humans by bats, we analyzed the prevalence of rabies in bats that encountered humans from 1977 to 1996 and characterized the bat-human encounters. Rabies was diagnosed in 685 (15%) of 4,470 bats tested. The prevalence of rabies in bats that bit humans was 2.1 times higher than in bats that did not bite humans. At least a third of the encounters were preventable.
authors.affiliation: Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Denver, USA.
authors.forename: W J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Pape
authors.forename: T D
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Fitzsimmons
authors.forename: R E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Hoffman
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001733:Bites and Stings / Q000150:complications; D002685:Chiroptera / Q000821:virology*; D003120:Colorado / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D015995:Prevalence; D011818:Rabies / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000635:transmission* / Q000662:veterinary*; D012307:Risk Factors; D015047:Zoonoses