LAKE COUNTY, Ill. — An Illinois man died Tuesday after being bit by a rabid bat in August, marking the first human case in the state since 1954, health officials said.
Thomas Krob, 87, of Spring Grove, woke up with a bat on his neck in August, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. The bat was captured and tested positive for rabies, according to WLS.
Krob declined treatment, according to a news release from the Illinois Department of Public Health.
One month later, Krob “began experiencing symptoms consistent with rabies,” including neck pain, headache, difficulty controlling his arms, finger numbness, and difficulty speaking, the news release stated.
McHenry County Coroner Michael Rein said his office was contacted on Sept. 20 about Krob’s death and an autopsy confirmed Krob had contracted rabies, the Sun-Times reported.
”They have very small teeth and so if you were asleep or unaware, you might not notice necessarily that you’ve been bitten,” Liza Lehrer, assistant director of the Urban Wildlife Institute at the Lincoln Park Zoo, told WLS.
A bat colony was found in Krobs’ home, WBBM reported.
Human cases of rabies are rare, with one to three cases reported nationwide each year, the television station reported. But rabies exposures remain common, and approximately 60,000 Americans receive post-exposure vaccines annually, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. The rabies virus attacks the central nervous system and causes disease and brain death, the news release stated.
Bats are the most commonly identified animals with rabies in Illinois, according to WBBM.
“Rabies has the highest mortality rate of any disease,” Ngozi Ezike, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, said in the release. “However, there is life-saving treatment for individuals who quickly seek care after being exposed to an animal with rabies.”
During 2021, 30 bats have tested positive for rabies in Illinois, according to the news release, and more than 1,000 bats are tested annually in the state after possible exposure.