Commissioners hear bat report, address issues

A western Wahkiakum County child is being vaccinated after being bitten by a rabid bat, county Health and Human Services Administrator Judy Bright said Tuesday.

Vaccinations may be recommended for a parent who handled the bat, which was tested and found to be rabid.

"We are proceeding to see if any other family members need treatment," Bright said in the weekly meeting of the county board of commissioners.

In other health news, Bright told the commissioners a "perfect storm" is brewing for health departments across the state because of looming revenue shortfalls. She urged commissioners to lobby hard for the state legislature to boost health funding.

She added that the staff is being spread too thin to handle all the tasks required of them.

"We've cut and cut and we can't do it anymore," Bright said.

"Health funding is a top priority of the Washington State Association of Counties," said Commissioner Blair Brady. He said the group plans to lobby hard for health funding.

Bright and Public Health Nurse Lisa Hannah reported that the department has had funding for a well-used nutrition program for families with new born children, Women, Infants and Children (WIC).

The income-based program served 71 percent of the infants born to county residents last year; statewide, the average is 49 percent, Bright said.

Even though they are working the majority of WIC families are living in poverty, a written report said. In 2007, the monthly income for a family of four living in poverty was $1,721 or less in the county.

The WIC program served 189 persons in 2007, they said, 130 infants and children under age five years, and 59 pregnant, breast-feeding and postpartum women.

"We made a lot of referrals to other health services (942)," Hannah said, And they've also been able to offer the program both in Cathlamet and Rosburg to serve all areas of the county.

In other business for the commissioners:

--Mike Sheldon of the Washington Counties Insurance Pool visited the board and reported that pool managers are planning to add retirement and long term care benefits for employees of member entities.

"We're proud that for the last five years, we've been able to keep rate increases in the single digits while they've been in 10-15 percent per year nationally," Sheldon said.

--Commissioner Dan Cothren reported that he and colleagues from Pacific and Skamania counties will meet July 8 with representatives of the state Department of Natural Resources to continue discussions of compensating counties for lost earnings on state managed timber trust lands.

An endangered sea bird, the marbled murrelet, nest far inland on the limbs of big trees, and the DNR has halted harvest of county timber trust timber stands with suitable habitat while it develops a murrelet management plan.

County officials say they need the revenue from the lands, and the state has a fiduciary responsibility to manage the lands to generate revenue. If the lands are going to be used as protected habitat, the county needs to be given other timberlands where harvests can occur, commissioners say, or there must be other compensation.

More about bats, rabies

Rabies is a viral disease that attacks the central nervous system in mammals, according to information from the Washington Department of Health.

Because rabies is a fatal disease, the goal of public health is, first, to prevent human exposure to rabies by education and, second, to prevent the disease by vaccination treatment if exposure occursm, Bright said. Tens of thousands of people are successfully vaccinated each year after being bitten by an animal that may have rabies.

The virus can be transmitted after a bite from an infected animal. It can also be spread to open wounds or mucous membranes by an infected animal’s saliva.

“People are most often exposed to rabies when they handle bats,” said Dr. Ron Wohrle, environmental health veterinarian at the state Department of Health. “Any bat that is found on the ground, has been caught by a pet, or is found in the house could have rabies. The local health agency should be consulted to consider testing the bat or for guidance on release or proper disposal.”

Bats can be found throughout the state; they are not aggressive animals and most of them don’t have rabies. Those seen flying at dusk and feeding on insects are usually healthy and will avoid contact with people. However, any bat that is flying during the day or appears sick and unable to fly is more likely to be rabid.

If you find a bat in the house, close the doors and windows to the room; wear leather or other thick gloves; capture the bat in a can or box without touching it; seal the container; and call your local health agency, which will determine if any people or pets in your home may have been exposed and can arrange to test the bat for rabies, if needed.