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<\/p>\n
Keira Glasgow, a director in health protection at NSW Health, said the man who died had been bitten by a bat several months ago and had received treatment following the injury.<\/p>\n
She said 118 people had required medical assessment after being bitten or scratched by bats in 2024.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is incredibly rare for the virus to transmit to humans, but once symptoms of lyssavirus start in people who are scratched or bitten by an infected bat, sadly there is no effective treatment,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Ms Glasgow urged the public to assume that any bat could carry lyssavirus, and said only trained, vaccinated and properly protected wildlife handlers should interact with them.<\/p>\n
WIRES Northern Rivers chair Drew Paice said he was not aware of the specific details of the case, but that members of the public are most commonly injured when they attempt to rescue bats trapped in barbed wire fences.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of the time people see a bat on a barbed wire it\u2019s distressing to see so they want to go to help the bat but the bat is in pain, it\u2019s not happy and it will scratch them when they try to help,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Mr Paice said the Northern Rivers branch rescues more bats than any other WIRES branch in NSW due to the region\u2019s biodiversity.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe get black flying foxes, grey headed flying foxes and red headed flying foxes. We have big camps in Byron Bay, Ballina, Bangalow, Lismore and Casino,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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