Hundreds of Arizona college students are forced to evacuate their dormitories after the building was invaded by rabies-infected bats just weeks before Halloween.
About 500 Northern Arizona University (NAU) students living in Mountain View Hall, which primarily houses freshmen and sophomores, were told to pack their bags on Friday and Saturday, according to AZ Family.
At least five bats have been seen flying around the dorm in the last five days and one was even caught sleeping on the ceiling as mitigation efforts failed to remove the pesky creatures.
A bat that was tested in September tested positive for rabies, according to Coconino County Health and Human Services.
“In close consultation with Coconino County Health and Human Services, NAU issued guidelines to residents on health and safety and initiated building-wide mitigation protocols with the support of a pest control contractor,” the school said. in a statement to AZ Family.
About 500 Northern Arizona University (NAU) students living in Mountain View Hall, which primarily houses freshmen and sophomores, were told to pack up Friday and Saturday due to a bat infestation.
A video, shared on Instagram, showed hundreds of bats circling on the roof of the building.
A bat that was tested in September tested positive for rabies, according to Coconino County Health and Human Services.
a video, shared on InstagramIt showed hundreds of bats circling the roof of the building.
No injuries have been reported, but some students received a rabies vaccine as a precaution, according to AZ Family.
Students will move to nearby accommodation.
“Based on additional consultation with CCHHS, we have determined that to provide the best health, well-being and academic success of our students, all residents will be relocated from Mountain View to other nearby apartments,” the school told AZ Family.
“This supports our students and will allow for comprehensive and permanent bat mitigation efforts to take place in the building.”
The students said a few hundred bats came out of the walls.
“I just heard screeching coming from the walls,” said an unidentified student. “I was like oh no,” he said, slurring the last two words.
The students said the school sent them an email telling them what to do if they encountered an infected bat.
“This is what you do if you encounter a rabid bat, and it’s like hmm, what if I don’t encounter the rabid bat?” the girl’s roommate told AZ Family.
Some of the advice given to the students was to ‘shake out all our clothes, move items around our rooms, look under every corner, every desk, anything we can find; Pat our pillow and sheets.
The male students said, “That was the email that made me want to move.”
Despite the fear of getting sick, a student. Jake FagoneHe was amused by the situation and dressed up in a Halloween bat costume and walked around the bedroom.
About 70 percent of Americans who have died of rabies were infected by a bat, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Rabies has a high mortality rate if contracted, but contracting the infection is rare in the United States, with fewer than 10 deaths a year.
Once symptoms appear, rabies is “virtually 100 percent fatal,” according to WHO.
The disease is transmitted through bites, scratches and direct contact with the eyes, mouth or open wounds, the WHO said.
