People in Sweden have been warned to urgently seek medical care if they are bitten by a bat, after “rabies” was detected in the blood of several of the animals.

Saliva and blood from bats in the central and southern parts of the country were analysed by scientists over the past six years.

While no evidence of rabies was found in any of the bats’ saliva, 14 of the 452 bats studied were found to have rabies antibodies in their blood, indicating that they were or had recently been infected with the rabies-like European Bat Lyssavirus.

The virus strain has also been found in several other Scandinavian countries in recent years.

All captured in Skåne or Småland in the south of Sweden, the bats found to have been infected with the virus were Daubenton’s bats, a species named after the French naturalist Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton, that is also found in areas of Britain.

The risk of infection is “extremely small” according to scientists.

“This poses no danger to the public,” Uppsala University virology professor Åke Lundkvist told news agency TT. “Normal people will not be bitten, but it is good to know if a researcher or a kid finds a bat and happens to be bitten, at least in Skåne or Småland. In that case, you should seek medical attention and treatment.”