Woke up in the middle of the night - and discovered a live bat inside her mouth
Dr. Krista Edelman, an American physician, experienced a chilling moment when she felt movement in her mouth and realized it was a bat. She rushed to receive preventative treatment for rabies and breathed a sigh of relief when it turned out the animal was not infected with the deadly disease.
A moment of horror in Virginia, USA: a medical specialist woke up in the middle of the night in a panic and discovered a live bat inside her mouth. Dr. Krista Edelman, a gastroenterologist from Richmond, recounted the incident that occurred on August 20, after she felt unusual movement in her lip area.
In an interview with local television station WWBT-TV, Edelman said that at first she thought it was part of a dream about a "small field mouse," but when she reached out her hand, she realized the magnitude of the horror.
"I folded the bat's wings inside my face," Dr. Edelman recalled the chilling moment.
Following her screams, her husband woke up and managed to trap the bat inside a sealed container.
Rush to the ER and fear of rabies
Edelman rushed to the emergency room carrying the trapped animal, fearing she had been bitten and infected with rabies — a viral disease with a mortality rate approaching 100% once symptoms appear. The medical staff immediately began administering emergency preventative treatment, including a series of vaccines and immunoglobulin.
According to a report in the British The Independent, the treatment was stopped after a laboratory test determined that the bat did not carry the virus.
Dr. Adam Landsy, Deputy Medical Director at St. Mary's Hospital, praised Edelman's quick thinking in seeking immediate treatment: "Bat teeth are very small and sharp, and often a person does not even know they have been bitten."
According to World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines, any direct contact with a bat, and even the mere act of waking up in a room where a bat was present, requires urgent medical evaluation, even in the absence of visible bite marks.
Following the traumatic experience, Edelman called on the public to check and seal attics, chimneys, and openings in homes. Authorities remind that in any case of suspicious contact, one should wash the area thoroughly with soap and water and immediately go to the nearest emergency room.
