2023-10-05 17:36:32
Australian woman fears she may have contracted deadly virus following being bitten on the head by a bat while on holiday in the city of Cairns, Queensland in the north-east of the country, with her husband.
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“I didn’t want to believe a bat bit me,” Sandi Galloway told the Cairns Posta local Australian newspaper, regarding the attack.
Sandi Galloway and her husband Screenshot, Facebook
She was bitten by a Philippi flying fox, a red-haired bat. This large species can reach up to 1.50 m in height.
Photo AFP
These bats carry Lyssavirus disease, which attacks the nervous system and has a 100% mortality rate in Australia.
A sneak attack
The couple was quietly returning to their hotel around 11 p.m. following having coffee with friends when suddenly, she allegedly felt something beating near her.
“I felt something flying over my head,” she explained, referring to “Dracula.”
With the woman partially blind, Galloway raised his hand to stop the unknown creature from landing on her. She then felt a prick on her forehead, “like a pin.”
AFP
As her partner witnessed the scene, she initially refused to accept that she had been bitten by a bat even though she was told what had happened.
She was even convinced that it was “probably a spider”, having difficulty admitting the facts.
Subtle symptoms, severe consequences
Showing no symptoms apart from fatigue and loss of appetite, Ms Galloway forgot regarding the ordeal until she returned home and discussed it with her daughter.
“I didn’t want to look stupid by going to the doctor regarding a bite because I thought it didn’t happen in real life,” said the woman, who is also a grandmother.
Screenshot, Facebook
“But I talked regarding it with my daughter, who told me that I might get rabies and die from it. »
Galloway was referred by her doctor to an infectious disease expert, as the bat might carry the Lyssavirus. He sent him vaccines by plane from Canberra.
AFP
She received five injections on Wednesday, and will receive three more over the next few weeks.
In light of this ordeal, she is calling on the local government to relocate the flying foxes from the city of Cairns and relocate them to a less populated area.
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