Do you need a rabies shot if you wake up with a bat in your room?

Bat teeth are so small that a bite may leave no mark you can see, and someone who is asleep may never know it happened.¹² That's why health officials count waking from a deep sleep to find a bat in the room as a possible rabies exposure.² The same goes for anyone else who might not know whether the bat touched them, such as a young child who was alone in the room or someone who was drunk.² If you were awake and aware the whole time and never touched the bat, you aren't considered exposed.²

If the bat tests negative for rabies, nobody needs the shots, so don't let it out.²³ Close the windows and doors to keep it in the room, and call animal control or your health department to catch it safely.³⁴ If you have to catch it yourself, put on leather work gloves first. Wait for it to land, then cover it with a box or jar and slide a piece of cardboard underneath.³ Try not to swat at it, because a blow can damage its brain and make testing impossible.⁴

If the bat got away or can't be tested, health officials assume it had rabies, so anyone who could have been bitten without knowing it may need the shots.¹⁴ The shots, called post-exposure prophylaxis, are a dose of ready-made rabies antibodies plus four vaccine doses over two weeks.⁵ Rabies is almost always fatal once symptoms start, but the shots prevent it when they're given before then.⁶ That makes them urgent, though most people don't need to rush to the emergency room.² Call your doctor or health department as soon as you can, even if days have already passed.²