UPDATE, FEB. 23, 6 A.M.: A live, rabid bat was found recently in a Huntington Beach shopping center parking lot, confirms the Orange County Health Care Agency. Anyone who came in contact with the bat, which was found on the ground outside Big Lots, 6911 Warner Ave., on Feb. 15, is asked to call OCHCA's epidemiology department at 714.834.8180 or 714.834.7792.
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ORIGINAL POST, FEB. 5, 7:32 A.M.: With the recent discovery of a live, rabid bat at Fullerton College, the OC Health Care Agency warned the public Tuesday about rabies.
Geez, first measles, now rabies? If bad news comes in threes, what's next? Painful rectal itch!?!
The infected bat was found on the east side of the college's 1100 Building on Friday. Anyone who might have touched it or saw someone come in contact with it is asked to call the OC Health Care Agency's epidemiology department at 714.834.8180 during normal business hours or 714.834.7792 after hours.
This is serious stuff: Once someone infected with rabies shows symptoms, it is nearly always deadly.
A dead bat that later tested positive for rabies was found in downtown Long Beach in December.
Speaking of OC's neighbor across the LA County line, Long Beach city health officials on Wednesday disclosed three raccoons tested positive for distemper. While there is no risk to humans, residents were advised to take precautions to avoid the disease spreading to pets.
And if you have a pet bat? Beats me.
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OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.