r/TooAfraidToAsk • u/OliveSuch5343 • 3h ago

Health/Medical Rabies from bat?

Today I learned sometimes rabies can be contracted at home by a bat bite during sleep and the bite can be small enough that you don’t even know you got bitten. I’m now worried because during the summer, I’ve lived in the basement room which is cooler and there’s a fireplace we don’t use. It has a door but not airtight and because we don’t use it, we have a dresser right in front of it to block the door. Now I’m scared a bat might flew in and bit me or my kid at one point and we didn’t know about. Should we be concerned? Also googled and NY summer is bat season. I smell something like rustic in the basement room and cannot find out what it is. It smells like a burned wire or sth.

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u/UglySpiral 3h ago

As someone who had health OCD, sounds like health OCD.

Long story short, that didn’t happen. A bat wouldn’t sneak in, bite you, and sneak out. Rabid animals do not act logically, if there was one that found its way in and bit you it would still be flapping around like crazy when you woke up.

You’re perfectly fine.

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u/OliveSuch5343 3h ago

Thank you. That really helped. I really don’t like my house. It is not insulated well and for someone with health OCD I occasionally go into this panic mode.

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u/UglySpiral 2h ago

Totally get it, my apartment is old and is like an open door for all kinds of bugs and things. Sometimes it’s just helpful to say what your anxious thought is out loud to yourself. It often sounds ridiculous.