Toronto Public Health uses Facebook to trace woman exposed to rabid bat

Toronto Public Health officials used Facebook social network to trace a woman who had handled a rabid bat recently. They were trying to locate her so she could get rabies shots as soon as possible.

On September 3, a bat flew and struck a woman standing at a bus stop at the intersection of Jane Street and Lawrence Avenue in northwest Toronto. A second woman standing nearby picked up the injured bat and brought it to the wildlife center. Later the bat was found to be rabid, so the Toronto Public health officials were desperate to find her and give her rabies shots. People who are exposed to bats are often advised to get rabies shots to prevent development of the disease, which is fatal if left untreated. Toronto Public Health unfortunately couldn’t identify her due to Canadian privacy regulations. The Wildlife center had her address and phone number but the woman had moved from the current location and changed her phone number after she her last visit. Time was running out for Toronto Public Health officials in locating the woman. Mary Margaret Crapper of Toronto Public Health said they tried all traditional methods, telephone, police and Google but without any luck until they turned to Facebook. They even issued an advisory to the media, but no one came forward identifying the woman. Facebook helped locating the woman. The employees of the City of Toronto are barred from using Facebook, so they had to get special permission from the department. They used a personal account of the employee to search for this woman. After searching the name of the woman, they found a few with similar names and located her by using an alternate spelling of her first name. They contacted her and now the woman is taking a series of rabies shots. However the first woman who got in contact with the bat is still out there and the Toronto Public Health are unable to locate her so far. Since no one knows her name all they could do issue a media advisory and hope the woman or her family listens. Crapper said they will be using Facebook and YouTube as a public health tool in the future. She said they will be definitely using it again for a search like this. But if you heard about this bat incident in your Toronto neighborhood and know this woman, ask her to contact the Toronto Public Health immediately. She needs the rabies shots as soon as possible.