The Wyoming Department of Health has reached out to hundreds of people they believe may have been exposed to rabies during their stay at a Grand Teton National Park lodge over the last four months when a bat colony infected with the disease was discovered in the attic.
They say they still need to reach hundreds more, and the sooner the better.
No cases of rabies have emerged since health officials started an international effort to reach patrons over thecolony of bats that was sharing space in the lodge’s attic.
They say they are doing their due diligence to monitor the health of everyone who might have been exposed because of the serious nature of the disease.
Health officials estimate around 500 people stayed in one of eight attached cabins at Jackson Lake Lodge between May 5 and July 27. During that time, some of those people may have had direct contact with a bat, even if they weren’t aware of it.
“We have reached out to residents of 38 states and seven countries,” Wyoming State Health Officer Dr. Alexia Harrist told Cowboy State Daily. “We've been able to connect to all states that have residents who stayed in those cottages to have them do risk assessments (for rabies exposure), and we're focused on making sure those risk assessments get completed right now.”
Because brown bats are common vectors for the rabies virus, nobody’s taking any chances. The Grand Teton Lodge Company closed the eight cabins after multiple reports of bats in the rooms and alerted the Wyoming Department of Health of possible rabies exposure.
The Wyoming Department of Health, in conjunction with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has been working to notify and assess everyone who was potentially exposed. The risk of rabies infection from bats is low, but the consequences of inaction are lethal.
Four dead bats found in the cabins were tested for rabies at the Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory. Harrist said three of the bats tested negative, and the fourth was too decayed to be tested.
“Unfortunately, this is one of those circumstances where we can’t trap and test every single bat to confirm they don’t have rabies,” she said. “It’s impossible to say there was never a rabid bat present, so we have to assume that it's possible that there was a rabid bat in there at some point and take the necessary precautions.”
Lethal But Livable
M. Brock Fenton, emeritus professor of biology at Western University in Ontario, Canada, has been a bat biologist for his entire career, studying the evolution, diversity, and social organization of bats. He’s handled and been bitten by rabid bats, making him the last person to underestimate the risks associated with them.
“I've been exposed to and bitten by rabid bats, but I have my vaccinations. I have my protection. I don't worry about doing it, but I don't go out of my way to get bitten,” he said.
Rabies isn’t transmissible through the air or on surfaces – nobody staying at the Jackson Lake Lodge could get infected by breathing the same air or sharing a space with a rabid bat (assuming any of the bats in the colony were rabid). The virus spreads through the saliva of an infected mammal, and transmission usually occurs from bites or scratches.
According to Fenton, the rabies virus kills around 60,000 people every year. Most of those deaths occur in Africa and India after people are bitten or scratched by dogs carrying the virus.
“There was an older lady from the U.K. who was on holiday in Morocco who wanted to take the puppy back with her,” he said. “Somehow, she got scratched by the dog, she got rabies, and she died. So, if you're traveling in India or Africa, don't play with the stray dogs.”
In 2015, 77-year-old Karen Farthing of Lander became the first Wyoming resident to die from a confirmed rabies infection. A silver-haired bat had bitten her neck while she was asleep, but as neither she nor her family could find a visible bite mark, she did not receive any prophylactic rabies vaccination shots.
Farthing's rabies infection wasn't confirmed until she had been transferred to a hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah, in critical condition. By then, it was too late to treat her, and she died on Oct. 3, 2015.
Rabies is lethal, but only if it’s allowed to fester in the body. If anyone potentially exposed to rabies acts in a timely fashion, they can easily prevent their own death.
“There are very good vaccines against rabies,” he said. “Once you've had the vaccinations, they will test you to find out what level of protection you have in your system. If the first shots aren’t working, they give you another shot. But you’ve got to get the shots right away.
Rabies deaths are extremely rare in the United States and Canada. Fenton could only recall a handful of confirmed rabies deaths between the two countries in the last several years, which he credits to the effectiveness of rabies vaccinations, provided they're administered as soon as possible.
If the vaccinations aren't received in a timely fashion, no treatment will be available once the virus manifests. Harrist said rabies is "nearly universally fatal" if not caught early on, and it's a long, torturous death sentence as the body's systems shut down.
“As soon as you show clinical symptoms of the disease, they’re counting down on you,” Fenton said. "Seeing symptoms means it's going to kill you. There’s nothing you can do about it.”
Small But Serious
Bats and skunks are known to carry the rabies virus in Wyoming, but bats are the most common carriers. That’s why nobody’s taking chances with the potential exposure at Jackson Lake Lodge.
According to Fenton, brown bats, like the ones found in the attic of Jackson Lake Lodge, are mostly harmless. He believes the dark, enclosed attic space would be an ideal place for a colony of bats to settle in.
“Brown bats are really small,” he said. “They weigh around 15 grams. At this time of year, the young bats born in June are getting out and about, learning where to find food and all that sort of stuff. They’re not dangerous if you leave them alone.”
When startled or provoked in an enclosed space, a brown bat might bite or scratch a person in self-defense. The bites aren’t large, but Fenton said that makes them more dangerous.
“The bites are small, so you have to look carefully to see the signs of a bite,” he said. “People might get bitten by a bat and think it’s so small that they don’t have to worry about it. That can be a deadly decision.”
Bat bites usually occur when people are trying to shoo away or capture bats when they end up somewhere they aren’t wanted. However, it’s also possible for a frightened or panicked bat to bite or scratch someone while they’re sleeping.
“People with the higher risk exposures would be those who had direct contact with a bat,” Harrist said. “The bat might have bitten them or scratched them while they were sleeping in a room with a bat, so they may be less aware of a bad bite or be unable to communicate that they had that contact. Those are the folks that we're trying to identify and make recommendations for post-exposure prophylaxis.”
Fenton cautioned against taking any action to capture or remove bats. Even a small bite or scratch can be enough to transmit rabies.
“As soon as you start grabbing the bat, trying to get rid of it, it’ll bite you,” he said. “Don't try to catch them to identify them, because you’ll just get bitten again. Just leave them alone.”
Prophylactic Measures
Harrist acknowledged that the Wyoming Department of Health is trying to tread a critical needle of communication regarding rabies exposure. The risk is low, but the consequences are life-threatening.
“The overall risk is low, but rabies is nearly always a fatal disease,” she said. “People don't need to get that post-exposure prophylaxis if they didn’t have any contact with a bat, but I think most people have questions, and we’re happy to answer those questions and talk to them about their individual circumstances to make individual recommendations.”
Brown bats eat mosquitoes, flies, beetles, and other small insects. Despite being a common vector for rabies, even in North America, they tend to avoid people and are mostly harmless to them.
Fenton said brown bats aren’t dangerous if they’re left alone. They don’t have the sanguineous appetite of their Central and South American cousins, which present a much more potent threat of rabies transmission.
“If we were having this conversation in Mexico or Brazil, I would have to bring up the business of vampire bats,” he said. “They are pretty much model carriers of rabies because they feed on blood. That's what they have to do, but that’s not something that happens in the United States or Canada.”
The three extant species of vampire bats have been known to bite and transmit rabies to humans. Even so, the risk of infection is still extremely low and has been reduced by the increase in rabies vaccinations in dogs and humans.
Fenton was the lead author of a 2024 paper about how bat biologists can safely protect themselves from rabies transmission while handling and studying bats. The key takeaways - preventing exposures and responding quickly and appropriately if exposed via bite or scratch - are good points for anyone to heed if they suspect a possible exposure to rabies after being bitten or scratched by a bat, skunk, or other known vector for the virus.
Harrist said the Wyoming Department of Health and the National Park Service have been diligent about contacting everyone potentially exposed to rabies in the Jackson Lake Lodge, despite the low risk of rabies transmission. Better to be safe than sorry.
“Getting risk assessments done has been our top priority,” she said, “but we’re also thinking about how to make (the Jackson Lake Lodge cabins) safe for people to stay in again. More broadly, we’re thinking about rabies prevention in places like Grand Teton National Park, where people encounter wildlife.”
It’s impossible to test every bat for rabies, so people have to suffer the consequences of potential exposure to and transmission of rabies. Fenton doesn’t want anyone to be afraid of bats because they carry rabies, as it’s easy enough to avoid them and the lethal virus they may or may not be carrying.
“It's not something to be frightened of,” he said. “The best thing to do is not get bitten and leave bats alone, and if you do get bitten, immediately wash out the wound with water and soap, and get your shots right away. Bats aren’t dangerous if you leave them alone.”
Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.
