BUTTE – Eight residents of a southwestern Montana county underwent precautionary treatment for rabies after being exposed to bats within the last three weeks.
The Montana Standard reports health officials aren’t sure if anyone was bitten.
Madison County nurse Melissa Brummell says in one case, a dead bat was found in a house and all five members of a family who slept there were treated. Two other people were treated after a dead bat was found in another house. One of the dead bats tested positive for rabies.
One person reported being swooped by a bat.
The preventative treatment involves a shot of rabies immune globulin and three doses of vaccine over the next 14 days. The treatment costs an average of $11,000.
The state health department says two other people in Montana have undergone the preventative treatment this year.