South Jersey woman shares story of being bit by a bat in her home: "He was attached to my index finger"
MOORESTOWN, N.J. (CBS) -- The CDC said there's been a concerning increase in the number of human rabies cases linked to bats. Officials said the uptick may be due to a lack of awareness about the risks of rabies from bats.
Experts said bats are not aggressive and are important for eating insects and pollination.
But when they get inside homes crazy things can happen.
"When I first saw the bat he was attached to my index finger," Deb Earl said.
Earl still can't believe what happened, a crazy encounter with a bat in her home in Moorestown.
"It was such a horrifying experience," she said.
She was slipping on shoes and felt something in her toe. She thought maybe a sock. When she went to retrieve the object with her hand.
"I felt it right away," Earl said. "It felt like a pinprick. I pulled my hand out and there's a bat attached to my finger and I flicked it off. Then when I saw it, moving on the floor, that's when I ran screaming.
Her husband captured the bat and put it out the window.
"Something we see daily in the emergency department," Dr. Charles Nolte said.
Nolte with Virtua Health said bat exposures happen all the time. They can get into homes through tiny cracks and it's serious because bats spread rabies which is fatal if not treated quickly.
"In the United States the most common death from rabies comes from bat bites," Nolte said.
Doctors warn once a bat gets inside the house it's especially dangerous because it's probably infected.
"Oftentimes times it's not like it's coming to attack you, more often what happens is the bat is sick," Nolte said.
Earl had no idea until she was finally convinced by her husband to go to the hospital.
"They rushed me back," she said. "The doctor said people don't live if they get rabies, you got to have the shots."
She has now completed the series of rabies vaccine shots and feels fine physically.
"It takes a while to get over the image," Earl said. "I don't slip my foot into a shoe anymore."
And now understanding bat dangers, she's grateful her husband insisted she get treated.
"He's my hero, he saved my life, he'll never let me forget it," she said.
Earl said the rabies shots that go in the arm, aren't excessively painful and they have had bats in the house before.
They're not alone, experts say bats are everywhere.
