Health authorities are trying to find four children who may have been exposed to a potentially deadly bat-borne virus at Ipswich, west of Brisbane. The children were seen playing with a flying fox at Queens Park last Saturday. Bats in the area have tested positive for Australian bat lyssa virus which can be transmitted to humans.
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00:00 It was at Queen's Park in Ipswich last Saturday morning that four children were seen playing with a flying fox.
00:07 Authorities now taking the unusual step of an urgent public plea to locate them.
00:13 We don't want to cause panic but it is really important that we identify these children.
00:17 This dead bat was seen in the same place today and others in the area have recently tested positive for Australian bat lissavirus.
00:25 It's a disease that can be transmitted from bats to people. Early detection is critical.
00:31 It's very important that parents don't wait for symptoms but that they reach out early and we're able to support them.
00:36 This is a potentially fatal disease. This is very similar virus to the rabies virus.
00:41 Symptoms in people can include pain around the site of any bite or scratch, spasms and frothing at the mouth.
00:48 This is a terrible disease and we've had three cases that we know of of Australian bat lissavirus infection in people and all three have died.
00:58 The bat the children were playing with hasn't been caught or tested so authorities don't know if it had the virus.
01:05 Lissavirus is only found in about 1% of bats but it's present in up to 30% of those seen behaving abnormally.
01:13 The one the children were with last weekend was on the ground struggling to move.
01:18 The lissavirus incubation period can be as short as five days and as long as two years.
01:24 Anyone exposed needs to be vaccinated and treated as quickly as possible.
01:29 Authorities are warning everyone not to handle bats.
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