After a B.C. man died from rabies believed to have been caused by a bat, a University of Regina professor is hoping to ease the minds of people in Saskatchewan concerned about the disease.

“Lots of people are unfortunately therefore very fearful about bats and it leads to a lot of inappropriate information being spread and unnecessary fear being spread,” U of R biology professor Mark Brigham told CTV News.

Brigham has worked with bats for around four decades, and has handled around 50,000 bats in that time – 2 of which carried rabies.

He says since the incident in BC, he’s fielded plenty of phone calls about rabies in bats, including one person wondering if a bat scratch that happened ten years ago could still cause rabies.

“You can’t get rabies from a scratch, it’s only saliva where the virus lives and therefore a bite that can cause it,” Brigham said.

The Saskatchewan Health Authority says the last human case of rabies in the province was more than 40 years ago, but encourages seeing a medical professional if you’re bitten by any wild mammals including skunks, raccoons, and others.

“If you are concerned about any bite or anything that is of concern, do contact local public health or your nearest medical provider and we will assess it and provide you the protective measures that are required,” said Dr. Maurice Hennink, the SHA’s medical health officer for the Regina area.

As for bat contact, Brigham says less than one per cent of the population is rabid, but the ones that are typically show unusual behaviour like lying on the ground.

“Bats are not aggressive creatures,” Brigham said. “They are not going to go out of their way to bite you, so the only way you can get bitten by a bat that has rabies is if you pick up a bat that’s on the ground.”

“If it’s on the ground it’s automatically behaving strangely, that’s the animal you should stay away from to begin with, just don’t touch it and the likelihood you’ll be exposed is way lower than winning the lottery.”

Brigham adds bats play an important role in eating mosquitoes, moths and other pests but the animals generally aren’t something to be afraid of.