Welcome to Skagit County

August 13, 2025 
 

Bat Tests Positive for Rabies in Skagit County

A bat found in Skagit County has tested positive for rabies virus by Washington State Department of Health (DOH). Recently, a person found a bat in their small child’s room. The parents were unsure if the child or any of their animals had any exposure to the bat, but correctly alerted Skagit County Public Health. The bat was submitted to the Washington State Public Health Laboratory for testing and was confirmed positive on August 12, 2025. Due to risk of exposure, the family was directed to their health provider to receive appropriate care.  

This is the first bat found in Skagit County to test positive for rabies this year and the fourth in Washington State in 2025. The last positive case of rabies in a bat in Skagit County was in 2023.  

Bats and Rabies 

 Rabies is a fatal disease in both people and animals, but it can be prevented with prompt, appropriate medical care and treatment before any symptoms develop.

 In Washington, bats are the only known mammal to carry rabies. Bats that are infected with rabies can spread the infection to other mammals, including humans, who have bare skin contact with bats or bat saliva. Any person or animal that touches or has contact with a bat or its saliva could be at risk of getting rabies, which is almost always fatal once symptoms begin. However, rabies is preventable if treatment is provided before symptoms appear. Contact includes touching a bat, being bitten, scratched, or any other bare skin contact with a bat or its saliva.

 To protect yourself and your family from rabies, it’s important to avoid touching bats. If you or a loved one may have had direct contact with a bat, call your medical provider immediately and report the exposure to Skagit County Public Health at (360) 416-1500.

Preventing Rabies 

• Do not touch or handle wild animals, especially bats.
• Do not feed wild animals or keep them as pets.
• Bat-proof your home. Bats can squeeze through cracks and holes as small as half an inch. Learn how to humanely exclude them here.
• Vaccinate cats, dogs, and ferrets against rabies and consider doing the same for livestock.
• Teach your kids not to touch bats, or any wild animal, and be sure to keep your pets away from bats.
• If you find a bat in your living space, call Skagit County Public Health at (360)416-1500 for help determining if the bat needs to be tested for rabies and how to safely capture a bat if it needs to be tested. Never handle a bat with bare hands and only capture bats that have had direct contact with a person or pet, or bats found in the room with a person or pet who may have had contact with it.

What To Do If You May Have Been Exposed

If you think you or your children may have had contact with a bat, take immediate action.

• Wash out the area of any animal bite or scratch with soap and running water for at least 10 minutes.
• Call Skagit County Public Health at (360) 416-1500 to discuss your exposure (or potential exposure) and the need for treatment.
• Seek medical care right away for a bite or scratch from a bat or other potentially rabid animal.
• Rabies can be prevented with appropriate and timely medical treatment, called rabies post-exposure prophylaxis, after a rabies exposure.

Rabies and Pets

Pets and livestock are at-risk for getting rabies from bats, too. Make sure to keep your dogs, cats, ferrets, cattle, and horses up to date on their rabies vaccination. If you think your pet or livestock was exposed to a bat, contact your veterinarian immediately.

More about Bats

Most bats don’t have rabies. Bats flying overhead and bats that have not had direct contact with humans or animals do not pose a risk for transmitting rabies. In fact, bats are beneficial to people and the environment in many ways. They are effective predators of night-flying insects (including mosquitoes), and act as pollinators of plants and trees. Just don’t forget, they can also be carriers of a very rare, but serious disease.

For more information about rabies and how to protect your family and pets from rabies exposure, visit https://doh.wa.gov/you-and-your-family/illness-and-disease-z/rabies. For questions, please contact Skagit County Public Health at (360) 416-1500 or health@co.skagit.wa.us.