'Rabid' bat found on river path

Only five Daubenton's bats have been found with rabies in 20 years

A bat found on a path near the Thames in Oxfordshire has tested positive for a strain of rabies which is known to have killed humans.

The female Daubenton's bat was discovered by walkers near Abingdon Lock, Abingdon, on 12 September.

It died a few days later and tests have since revealed that the animal carried the European Bat Lyssavirus - closely linked to the classic rabies virus.

In 2002, a bat handler in Scotland died after contracting the virus.

It is thought the man, from Angus, had been bitten by a bat about six months previously.

'Health risk negligible'

A spokeswoman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said the bat found in Abingdon had been cared for by the people who found it and later handed it over to conservationists.

After its death it was sent to a lab for routine testing and although initial results were negative, a further biological test showed the presence of EBLV-type 2.

The spokeswoman said: "The people who are known to have cared for and handled the bat are receiving appropriate medical treatment as a precautionary measure - the risk to their health is negligible."

Anyone who finds a sick or injured bat should not touch it but contact a local bat conservation group or the Bat Conservation Trust, she said.

European deaths

Anyone bitten or scratched by a bat should seek medical attention immediately.

More than 6,000 UK bats have been tested for rabies since 1986 and only five have been shown to carry the European Bat Lyssavirus (EBLV-type 2) - all were Daubenton's bats.

One was found in Newhaven, Sussex, in 1996, two in Lancashire in 2002 and 2003 and one Surrey in 2004.

Since 1977, four people have also died from the virus in Europe, where bat rabies is more common.

Daubenton's bats rarely roost in houses - preferring habitats near water - and the infection has not been found in the more common Pipistrelle bat.