Fruit bats nesting close to a high school. Credit:Andrew Taylor The three people who died all asked for treatment – not for the original scratch or bite – but once they developed the rabies-like symptomsthat are common to bat lyssavirus. The eight-year-old boy had been bitten by a bat while holidaying in the Whitsundays three weeks earlier but did not tell his parents. A Medical Journal of Australia article to be published today says media reporting focuses the attention of bat handlers and people who have been scratched or bitten by bats. However after the spotlight of media attention moves to other issues the reporting of incidents falls away rapidly.

"A 2013 survey conducted in Queensland found relatively high levels of community awareness that bats pose some risks to human health," the article reports. "However, understanding of the full significance of exposure to bats is variable and appears heavily influenced by media reporting," it says. The survey carried out in Queensland by Queensland Health specialists found in 2013 – after the February death of the eight-year-old boy - there were 169 cases of potential bat lyssarirus reported to Queensland's public health units over a three-month period, or 56 cases per month. In the preceding two years – when there had not been a fatal case of bat lyssavirus – there was an average of 13 potential cases per month reported to public health units. Dr Josh Francis, now a paediatric infectious diseases specialist at Royal Darwin Hospital in the Northern Territory, said the survey was a wake-up call to force people to seek attention immediately.

"There is no doubt that there is a spike in the notifications after there has been a case," Dr Francis said. "People are aware of it, they're conscious of it, they're thinking, 'Hang on, there was this situation and there was that that happened'," he said. "We need to see a doctor." Lyssavirus can develop weeks or even years after a bite or a scratch. Dr Francis said Australians had a false sense of security from the virus because the country was free of dogs carrying rabies, which is a very similar disease to lyssavirus.

"If you get bitten by a rabid dog, you know about it," Dr Francis said. "There is not going to be much question in your mind about seeking medical attention it you get bitten by a rabid dog," he said. "And yet the reality is that with most contacts with bats the actual initial contact is very minor. "And they can give an almost imperceptible scratch, even the bite can barely leave a mark." As a result not all "interactions" with bats are taken to GPs after the media spotlight on the potential impact of lyssavirus falls off, he said.

"People may just think, well look it may be just be okay." Dr Francis said that was not the case. "The potential is for these bats to harbour a dangerous virus and there is an illness which can be prevented – the Australian bat lyssavirus," he said. "So we would encourage people to seek immediate medical treatment even if it seems a minor injury." In each of the three fatal incidences where the Queenslanders died of bat lyssavirus, there was a delay between the initial contact with the bat and the treatment that was requested, he said.

"It almost certainly would not have been fatal, is the truth," Dr Francis said. "In all three cases they presented once they already had symptoms of lyssavirus," he said. "And if they had presented earlier than that, well there is almost a 100 per cent success rate in the prevention therapy." He said "lyssavirus" was a notifiable disease, which means that doctors have to report all cases of bat bites and scratches to Queensland Health's public health units. The difficulty is persuading Queenslanders – and Australians - to automatically take all bat bites and scratches to a GP in the first place, he said.