Emerg Infect DiseidEmerging Infectious Diseases1080-60401080-6059Centers for Disease Control103411812640787Research ArticleRisk for rabies transmission from encounters with bats, Colorado, 1977-1996.PapeW. J.FitzsimmonsT. D.HoffmanR. E.Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Denver, USA.May-Jun199953433437

To assess the risk for rabies transmission to humans by bats, we analyzed the prevalence of rabies in bats that encountered humans from 1977 to 1996 and characterized the bat-human encounters. Rabies was diagnosed in 685 (15%) of 4,470 bats tested. The prevalence of rabies in bats that bit humans was 2.1 times higher than in bats that did not bite humans. At least a third of the encounters were preventable.