A bat found in the obstetrics unit at Palos Community Hospital has tested positive for rabies, according to the Cook County Department of Public Health.
Two bats found earlier this month in the OB were tested, Deanna Durica, a spokeswoman for the Health Department, said Monday.
As a precaution, vaccines intended to prevent rabies are being administered to people who may have been exposed to the bats, she said. It was not clear how many people were receiving the series of vaccines and whether it included hospital staff and patients.
The hospital, in a statement last week, had said that at “no time were patients ever in contact with the animals and they have been given a full update on the situation.”
After the discovery of the bats, the OB unit was closed and obstetrics patients were relocated to another area of the Palos Heights hospital while an evaluation was made of how the bats got into the building.
Although there was apparently no human contact with the bats, the Health Department has “established protocols” for reducing the risk of rabies possibly being transmitted, Durica said. She said hospital officials and the department have “cooperated well together.”
It wasn’t clear Monday whether the obstetrics unit at Palos had reopened.
