not birds but...Flying Foxes in Commonwealth Park

[Marg Peachey <>]

Plenty of Government information on the web.  have a look at the attached document and there are links to other places.

The whole Hendra thing is easily avoided by vaccinating horses.  Faeces pose no extra danger than any other animal faeces.

I doubt if children playing under the trees would pick up more than salmonella or e.coli, both potentially dangerous but not bat-specific.

We had 4-5000 bats in Commonwealth Park two years ago and I did not hear of any problems then.

On Fri, Jan 11, 2013 at 3:35 PM, Chris <> wrote:

Hi Peter,

The Hendra virus is not known to be transmissible from bats to humans. All known cases humans have caught the virus from horses (which caught it from bats). There is now a vaccine for horses so in theory no one should ever have to catch the virus again.

I understand there is also a thought that fruit bats are not the usual vector for Hendra and it may actually be microbats, but that was told to me by someone rather than being something I've read directly.

Cheers,

Chris

Sent from my iPhone

On 11/01/2013, at 3:00 PM, "Peter Ormay" <> wrote:

Dear Marg,

 

The disease that you refer to that can be transmitted by being bitten or scratched by Flying Foxes (or micro bats) is Lissa virus which is similar to rabies. 

 

 What I'm concerned about is Hendra virus which is known to have killed 4 humans who were associated with horses that are believed to have been infected by Flying Foxes via their faeces. As far as I know no humans have been infected directly by Flying Foxes via their faeces but I wouldn't like to be the first one. Children playing under the roost trees could easily come in contact with it and ingest a tiny amount by not washing their hands properly before eating. Have there been any tests done to determine how susceptible humans are infection by Hendra virus from bat droppings?  Is there any guarantee that the risk is zero or are we running an experiment without the subject's knowledge waiting to see who will be the unlucky person?

 

Regards

        Peter