(Credit:AP Graphics Bank) (CBS News) On August 5, 2011, 50 passengers and three person flight crew on an Atlanta-bound flight were in for a shock, when an unexpected passenger joined them on board: a potentially rabid bat.

Vampire bat rabies death prompts warning from health officialsRabies miracle? California girl survives dread disease without vaccine

A bat on a plane? Samuel L. Jackson jokes aside, the Centers for Disease Control took the case seriously, and released a new report on the incident in the April 13 issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. According to the report, the bat flew from the rear of the plane several times shortly after takeoff, before being trapped in a lavatory.

Reuters reports the flight in question was a Delta Airlines plane that took off from Madison, Wis.

Once the bat broke loose, the pilot returned to Madison where the plane was met by a maintenance crew who sought to remove the wayward guest. The elusive bat thwarted the crew’s attempts, escaping throw the cabin door – and eventually through the entire airport terminal, where it was seen exiting the building through automatic doors.

Without the bat being captured, its rabies status remained unknown. The crew searched the plane for more bats but couldn’t find any so the flight resumed. fifteen passengers re-boarded the flight while 35 chose alternate arrangements (Can you blame them?).

Three days following the incident, the Wisconsin Division of Public Health asked the CDC for help in performing a risk assessment to see if the passengers and in-flight and ground crew were exposed to rabies.

Rabies is a preventable but potentially deadly viral disease that’s spread through the bite of an infected animal. The virus attacks the central nervous system, ultimately spreading the disease through the brain and causing death. Early symptoms are similar to other illnesses and include fever, headache and discomfort but as the disease progresses, specific symptoms such as agitation, insomnia, confusion, paralysis, hallucinations, hydrophobia (a fear of water), an increase in saliva and difficulty swallowing. Death typically occurs within days of those symptoms. there is a preventive rabies vaccine and also a “postexposure” vaccination for people who have bitten.

After obtaining the names of all the passengers, the CDC conducted interviews and found no one on the plane or in the ground crew had any physical contact with the bat or its saliva. The CDC also inspected the airport terminal, gates, and baggage handling areas looking for signs of bat droppings to test, but found no evidence.

“I would say there is no evidence (of rabies exposure),” CDC veterinarian Dr. Danielle Buttke told Reuters. But she said, “I don’t think we can be certain.” she commended everyone involved for remaining calm, since airports aren’t exactly stress-free places to begin with.

According to the CDC, there have been a few bat sightings at the Dane County Regional Airport in Madison, and the agency recommends preventive safety measures such as adding netting to cover crevices where bats might roost. no bat sightings have been reported since last summer’s incident.

Rabies outbreaks in the U.S. are rare: there have been 42 reported cases of human rabies from 1995 to 2010, with only 21 reported cases over the past 10 years. of those recent cases, 15 or – 71 percent – were caused by bats. Approximately 6 percent of bats captured for testing in 2010 were infected with rabies, the CDC says. more than 2.5 billion passengers fly commercial airlines every year.

The CDC has more on rabies.

FARMINGTON — a Cortez, Colo., coyote which tested positive for rabies is the 138th confirmed rabies case this year, the beginning of what officials are calling a record-breaking year for rabies in the state, Colorado officials said Tuesday.

The Colorado Division of Wildlife and Montezuma County Health Department submitted the coyote for rabies testing after property owners reported it was acting strange and trying to enter a fenced enclosure with dogs, Lori Maldonado, a Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment spokeswoman stated in a release.

Confirmed results suggest the coyote, which also showed no fear of loud noises or being approached by humans, was infected by a rabid bat.

The rabid coyote is just one case of what Colorado officials expect will be a record-setting year for the central nervous system virus.

Of the 138 confirmed cases this year, 64 bats, 62 skunks, seven foxes, one domestic cat, one horse, one mule deer and one muskrat tested positive for the disease, Maldonado reported.

Officials believe the high numbers of rabies is because of the spread of the disease in skunks from Eastern Colorado toward the front Range.

New Mexico officials reported 13 confirmed cases in the state, none from San Juan County, Paul Ettestad, state public health veterinarian said.

“We haven’t been seeing that much rabies so far this year,” Ettestad said.

There are several varieties of rabies — skunk rabies, bat rabies and a new strain seen in foxes, which officials refer to as fox rabies, Ettestad said.

Skunk rabies — typically transferred from skunk to skunk — is common along the eastern border and southern New Mexico-Texas border.

Fox rabies, a new strain in New Mexico, started in 2007 in Arizona but is spreading into Sierra, Grant and Catron counties, Ettestad said.

The most common strain, bat rabies, is also the most prevalent in San Juan County, likely because the disease is dispersed easier because of bats’ ability to fly.

“There is always a low level of that rabies everywhere,” Ettestad said. “The last positive bat (in San Juan County) was seen in 2002.”

The biggest danger for humans contracting the disease is from unvaccinated dogs and cats.

“What’s really scary is if you have a dog or cat that is unvaccinated,” Ettestad said. “They have a lot higher interaction with people. It can take a few days when a dog or cat is infected before they show symptoms of rabies.”

by then the domestic animal can have contact with dozens of people, he said.

“That’s one of the reasons it’s so important to make sure your dogs and cats are vaccinated, not only to protect themselves, but to prevent them from exposing a number of people to rabies,” Ettestad said.

a person who is bit by a rabid animal can undergo a series of treatments, but they can cost $3,000 to $5,000, he said.

The first shot is injected into the wound followed by four shots in the arm over the course of two weeks.

“Again, it’s something you want to avoid,” Ettestad said.

five bats have tested positive for the disease in New Mexico this year, three from neighboring Rio Arriba County.

“A lot of times, especially in the southwest part of the state where we have fox rabies, which is really aggressive, we also encourage people to get their horses vaccinated,” Ettestad said.

Rabies is a virus that affects the central nervous system, passed through saliva of an infected animal, Maldonado stated.

Signs of rabies include abnormal behavior, bats found on the ground, wild animals approaching humans or having difficulty walking or moving, and excessive bellowing in cows or hissing and chirping in bats, Maldonado said.

People who come into contact with a possible infected animal are asked to call the county health department at (505) 327-4461 or animal control at (505) 334-6622.

Elizabeth Piazza:

Avoiding rabies