Dear Miss Liza,

Please tell me you’ve heard of the bat or partial remains of a bat carcass found in a prepackaged salad. I know you used to work in Environmental Health.  Have you ever heard of such a thing?

Alexis

Dear Alexis,

In environmental health, we have millions of stories like this! Not one day is the same!  Have you heard of the one about kids drinking hand sanitizer or the dentist that didn’t wash his hand or change gloves between patients? You ever wonder what happens to used soap and shampoo at hotels or how ‘bout Norovirus at a football game, or illnesses traced to a Playboy Mansion hot tub, or my personal favorite… 1 in 6 cellphones has traces of fecal E. coli?

So, to answer your question, YES!!! Bats are known reservoirs for rabies virus, which causes rabies disease in both animals and humans. Investigators concluded that the bat most likely came into contact with the salad material in the field during harvesting and cutting of greens and was then transported to the processing facility.

Several factors likely reduced the risk for rabies virus transmission to the two consumers. No rabies virus was detected in the specimen, the salad was rinsed before packaging, thereby diluting any potential virus. In addition, rabies virus does not survive more than a few days outside a host, so this exposure was likely of low risk. Low risk or not, knowing that you’ve eaten a bat carcass should be grounds for a “beat down”…. I’m just saying!

With Thanksgiving coming up next week, I’ll tell you about the 107 people sickened in a ground turkey salmonella outbreak.

That’s Environmental health…. Everyday, everywhere, everybody!

Bye!

Miss Liza