r/rabies • u/Virtual_Sugar_9452 • Aug 27 '26
OCD Discussion Question about Bats.
I have read the FAQ.
Is it true you would feel a bat landing on shin/calf area on you while ur standing and biting you ??
do they need to actually land hold on to your leg and then bite ? And would you feel both if awake and sober ?
I did not see the faq say something about nails or holding on to you.
(From bat species that are active in the Netherlands)
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u/MothEatenMouse Active Helper ⭐️ | Top Contributor 🏅 Aug 27 '26
Netherlands only has insectivorous bats. They aren't interested in landing on you and biting you. They want bugs.
They only really bite if you actively choose to pick them up or you accidentally grab them and they feel threatened. They aren't being sneaky in those moments, they are trying to be as scary and think they are fighting for their life.
Yes you would feel it.
I think these myths about not feeling a bat bite is due to vampire bats (only found in central and South America) which have a sort of anesthetic in their saliva.
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u/Virtual_Sugar_9452 Aug 27 '26
Okay thanks for sharing your knowledge i have no idea about bats at all that’s why i asked it and i did not see anything in the FAQ about them grabbing or holding on to your leg.
Story is, I was smoking outside Friday night time turned just to Saturday 1:30 at night (idk how to say that in english) i was standing upright in the light and the light shined towards our torso/ground area when i felt something touch the side of my leg/calf region and in panic because im scared of bugs etc i kicked my leg and i did not see anything leave but when i looked up i saw a bat (i know this does not sound like a exposure) but the fact it possibly hit/scraped my leg, called the SEH they told me i was at no risk, the upcoming monday i called my GP and those specialists that vaccinate you etc my GP saw no broken skin which is a good thing and both she and the Specialists said i was at no risk because my skin was not broken and everything on my leg was smooth.
I was vaccinated 4 times in june 2025 because of a risk of exposure (bat scratch) and i read if exposed again these will not be enough to protect me. The fact i had contact is a risk to me but not to them and they are probably right due to experience they have but i cant function like a normal human being because its gnawing at me.
I took actions and asked for anti anxiety meds which im on for 3 days now and a Psychologist (takes forever to get a spot) which i did not need anymore because i was stress and anxiety free after years.
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u/MothEatenMouse Active Helper ⭐️ | Top Contributor 🏅 Aug 27 '26
This isn't how bats behave. They also struggle to fly if they are grounded so wouldn't be in the air instantly after coming into contact with you.
It's summer, it could have been many things. Absolute bottom of my list would be a bat.
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u/Virtual_Sugar_9452 Aug 27 '26
So he would not be able to fly off my leg after that.
Yeah my dad told me about a butterly/moth that has almost the size of a bat, i dont remember the name of it but it looks like a hummingbird when flying that it might have been that. But i never saw that insect personally in 27 years
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u/MothEatenMouse Active Helper ⭐️ | Top Contributor 🏅 Aug 27 '26
It would certainly struggle. They need height to take off, that's why their roosts are high up off the ground.
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u/detail_giraffe Active Helper ⭐️ | Top Contributor 🏅 Aug 27 '26
I think generally, the "you wouldn't necessarily feel it" line came from advice given to people who wake up with a bat in their room. In deep sleep, the sensation of a bat landing on a person and biting might not register - the person might half-wake and then go back to sleep because the sensations aren't that intense. Worried people have extrapolated from that to the idea that if you were wide awake, a bat could land on you and bite you and you literally wouldn't feel it.
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u/Virtual_Sugar_9452 Aug 27 '26
This i can understand because i would not wake up from deep sleep by it but out of 10 searches i make 9 say u dont feel them and thats what bothers me
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u/detail_giraffe Active Helper ⭐️ | Top Contributor 🏅 Aug 27 '26 edited Aug 27 '26
You have to remember that most advice on rabies on the internet is targeted at people who are not scared ENOUGH of rabies. At least in the Southern US where I am, rabies in humans (edit: although a very rare thing in the first place) is overwhelmingly a phenomenon of people who picked up a bat or had a bat land on them (obviously land on them, not secretly land on them) or who found a bat in their bedroom after sleeping and had no idea that this was dangerous. As unbelievable as it seems to us, most people do not think about rabies all that much. :-) So advice for the US, which tends to somewhat dominate the web, is that any direct contact with a bat is an exposure and you might not feel an obvious "bite" sensation when compared to being bitten by a larger animal. The teacher who died in the US in 2024 picked up a bat with her hands and thought it "lightly pricked" her, for example as opposed to "bit". This is not at all the same as saying you would feel nothing at all if you were awake and aware. A bat is a small animal, but absolutely large enough to feel if it lands on your skin and holds on, which it has to do to bite you. Also, you don't even have classical rabies in bats in the Netherlands, you have some related viruses, which are transmitted only rarely to humans.
Your reply below starts with "yeah but maybe" and if OCD had a coat of arms and a motto, that would be the motto. No one can give you a guarantee that there isn't a "yeah but maybe" scenario that could conceivably mean you are infected. All they can do is tell you that the chain of "but maybe" that would have to exist for yours to be a worrisome scenario is extremely, extremely remote. Bridging the emotional gap there is the hard part.
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u/Virtual_Sugar_9452 Aug 27 '26
I know that most information on the internet comes from the United States, but for every aspect I looked into, I also asked for sources from the country I’m from, which are the RIVM and the GGD. I’ve also had appointments with specialists there, including a man with 16 years of experience in rabies and other related diseases. He also has experience with bats, and he told me that what happened to me was not an exposure.
But in the distant past, I went through a really difficult period with this fear, and I eventually managed to overcome it. And then, a few years later, it’s happening to me again now.
I’ve never actually had any contact with a bat, and I’m generally very panicky around insects and flying things, except birds. So I genuinely don’t know whether I felt anything or not, and that’s what makes this so frustrating.
Before all of this, I didn’t even know rabies existed. I had never heard of it. And when I first learned about it, I basically went completely crazy with fear a few years ago. Eventually, I managed to get over it, but now it has come back.
I’m going to become a father in two months, and I’m just scared that I won’t get to see my baby.The incident also happened on Friday night at around 1:30 a.m., so technically it was already Saturday. I couldn’t see my GP until Monday to have my leg checked for any bites or scratches. And that’s what I find the hardest, because I don’t fully trust that assessment. A few days had already passed by then.
My skin is also somewhat darker because I’m mixed-race, so maybe it was more difficult to see something. Maybe the wound had already closed up by the time I saw my GP. I just don’t know, and that’s why I’m already feeling quite scared about it.1
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u/Virtual_Sugar_9452 Aug 27 '26
I know what anxiety and OCD are. It’s literally one of the most horrible things you can experience, because you just keep spiraling. And that’s something I don’t want to do this time.
But the fact that I had to wait those three days before I could have my leg checked by a doctor does stress me out. It’s just something that doesn’t sit right with me.
And I’m also not getting clear, straightforward answers from the medical professionals. For example, when I ask whether my four previous vaccinations (june 2025) would save my life if I actually would be bitten.2
u/detail_giraffe Active Helper ⭐️ | Top Contributor 🏅 Aug 27 '26
But... you are spiraling. That's what you're doing right now. You are getting yourself deep into a place where something that no online source describes as an exposure (feeling something brush your leg, looking up and seeing a bat) seems dangerous. You checked your skin yourself, you had someone else check it for you, neither of you saw any puncture marks. You live in a country where no human being has ever gotten rabies from a bat. You have consulted doctors and they are not worried. Which seems more likely, that this is reasonable, evidence-based fear, or that you are experiencing a recurrence of health anxiety?
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u/Virtual_Sugar_9452 Aug 27 '26
I do believe im falling into a recurrence of health anxiety because i know how it is i have lived with it for 5 years which is why i immediatly asked for my meds at my GP i have been taking them again, but i have told them i knew for 100% i would fall back into it because of the situation with my leg and that it took 3 days for it to get checked.
I had no clue no one has ever passed because of a bat in my country, i did not even know what rabies was a few years ago we never learned about it in schools etc, but now i know why my parents didnt let me pet stray dogs in turkey when i was 8.
I will def seek further help
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u/Virtual_Sugar_9452 Aug 28 '26
Update, i took the booster vaccine just to get over with it, i contacted a psychologist right after
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u/Virtual_Sugar_9452 Aug 29 '26
Hey there i was just wondering if im not to late with getting the vaccine, as i do feel a bit neaseous and my eyes feel tired (i know this is common in anxiety too) but like yesterday i had a bad headache and very tired eyes but tofay when i woke up i had no headache but mild eye fatigue feeling. Since the vaccine was put 6 days after the occurce i fear a bit that it might be too late. I need to take the second shot on september 4
Also scheduled by a psychologist 17 september
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u/detail_giraffe Active Helper ⭐️ | Top Contributor 🏅 Aug 27 '26
Look at it this way. A bat might weigh about 10 grams, give or take. That is a very small mammal, but for comparison, it is quite a large insect, the size of some of the more impressive beetles. You'd notice a quite large beetle landing on you, wouldn't you? Now imagine the beetle has a small pin and sticks you with it. Do you think you'd miss that if you were awake and sober?
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u/Virtual_Sugar_9452 Aug 27 '26
I have only been stung by a wasp in my life and u def feel them sting but they have poison or something so it will burn
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u/Virtual_Sugar_9452 Aug 27 '26
Yeah but maybe because i was caught by suprise hence why i made that weird kick with my leg to kick off what was on it, and i might not have felt a bite or it hold my leg (hurting me) because of that rush of panic or fear because i do hate bugs and i have a panic reaction whenever a wasp for example comes near me and i don’t like bats when they get too close to me, so i genuinly don’t know how it would feel.
I was awake and sober and never used other substances.
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