Bat rabies

THE RECOGNITION of rabies infection in insectivorous bats is an interesting and significant discovery which may have far-reaching implications as a new public health problem in the United States. The existence of rabies infection in bats of the United States was unknown until June 1953, when it was diagnosed by the Tampa regional laboratory of the Florida State Board of Health (1). The first bat found to be infected was a Florida yellow bat (Dasyptermu floridai&), which had been killed while attacking a 7-year-old boy near Tampa. Diagnosis was established by the presence of Negri bodies on microscopic examination in routine diagnostic procedures by W. R. Hoffert, senior bacteriologist in the Tampa regional laboratory. Rabies infection was confirmed by inoculation of mice with the bat brain in the Jacksonville laboratory of the Florida Board of Health. The virus isolated was sent to the Virus and Rickettsia Laboratory of the Public Health