San Mateo County Health officials said a bat found last week at Portola Valley Town Center tested positive for rabies and are hoping to alert anyone who came in contact with it.
The bat was found on Oct. 24 near the Little People’s Park playground at Portola Valley Town Center.
Because there is no treatment for rabies once symptoms appear, county health officials are asking anyone who had physical contact with the bat to immediately contact their medical provider to determine if the exposure requires further action.
Health officials haven’t identified any people or animals that were exposed.
Rabies is fatal but preventable, and caused by a virus in the saliva of infected animals. Humans and other animals, including pets, can get rabies if they are bitten by a rabid animal.
Rabies is not spread by being near a rabid animal, petting it, or through contact with the blood, urine or stool of a rabid animal, health officials said.
Rabies is found in about 200 mostly wild animals each year in the state, according to the California Department of Public Health.
Rabies infects very few humans, and since 1980 the disease has been reported in 17 people in California. Health officials said that in the U.S, about 100,000 people every year are vaccinated against rabies after a potential exposure.
In San Mateo County, over the past 11 years, there has been an average of two bats per year that have tested positive for rabies.