5 ms·
Bats in Portuguese Libraries (2018)
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- weinzierl 6y agoIn a large library bats are probably quite harmless but they can and do occasionally transmit rabies: "Bats are responsible for roughly 7 in 10 rabies deaths among people who are infected with the rabies virus in the United States, [..]" https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2019/p0611-bats-rabies.html https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2019/p0611-bats-rabies.ht...
- simion314 6y agoFrom my understanding the bats only enter the library at night, hunt and leave.
- simias 6y agoRabies is very rare in Europe nowadays.
- HarryHirsch 6y agoThat's because the main vector was the fox. The vaccination campaign that was started in the 1980s was extremely successful.
- LolWolf 6y agoOooh, I did not know this and love to read more about it! Do you have a good source/expository article?
- HarryHirsch 6y agoHere's a pretty thorough report from the European Union: https://ec.europa.eu/food/sites/food/files/safety/docs/sci-com_scah_out80_en.pdf https://ec.europa.eu/food/sites/food/files/safety/docs/sci-c... The NY Times had something about the first trials in Switzerland: https://www.nytimes.com/1982/07/08/us/use-of-a-live-vaccine-in-bait-stems-rabies-in-a-swiss-area.html https://www.nytimes.com/1982/07/08/us/use-of-a-live-vaccine-...
- LolWolf 6y agoThese are great, thanks!
- ashtonkem 6y agoYou wouldn’t have to worry about rabies too much in a stable population like that. If they’re living their lives inside the library, the only risk would be if a human with rabies entered the library and was bitten by a bat; a very low probability event.
- vasco 6y agoRabies is officially erradicated in Portugal since the 1960's. I've searched for official data at: https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/publications-data?s=rabies https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/publications-data?s=rabies Most cases (we're talking 0-3 in a given year) in Europe seem to be imported from tourists or immigrants returning after being bit by a wild animal. This was the case in 2011 in Portugal after a dog bite in Guinea-Bissau (article in portuguese): https://www.publico.pt/2012/03/31/jornal/portugal-registou-caso-mortal-de-raiva-no-ano-passado-24288183 https://www.publico.pt/2012/03/31/jornal/portugal-registou-c... So looking at the data, it seems the little bats have been harmless for at least 60 years.
- jrochkind1 6y agoAs a library worker myself, I keep noticing and continue to find HN's fascination with libraries interesting. What do you think that's about?
- cko 6y agoPerhaps as a library worker, you are more prone to notice articles on HN that have anything to do with libraries.
- lowdose 6y agoLibrarians are the original data scientists.
- toofy 6y agoI suspect it has to do with the vast amount of worlds which exist inside the 1000s and 1000s of books. Take that fascination and mix it with our (many who read hn) fascination on how to store, quickly receive, and organize knowledge in better ways–everything from speed to aesthetics. The people who do work a lot with massive amounts of data may mask what we do in a dry and sterile language, but I’ve noticed that most people who do this have a deeper secret love of knowledge and libraries and wisdom.
- mping 6y agoHNers very much like knowledge, and books contain large amounts of it.
- naringas 6y agothey were organazing lots and lots of "data" long before computers even existed
- openfuture 6y agoFor me librarians have been the keepers of our heritage and knowledge since ... they started doing it. We have no idea about anything before librarians (or the equivalent predecessor concept) started doing what they do. My greatest aspiration is to contribute to our survival, culture and all. So in the same way as anyone who makes a gritty youtube video can claim to be 'anonymous' I can claim to be a 'librarian', the least secret secret order.
- mehh 6y agoThe library at Coimbra is well worth a visit, I didn't even know about the bats!
- mig39 6y agoCoimbra in general is worth a visit. :-) And so is the surrounding countryside and towns. My oldest kid pointed out that the university literally has an ivory tower on a hill :-)
- williesleg 6y agoI'm scared I'll get the Kung Flu at the library now, thanks Hacker News!
- itsajoke 6y agoThis was interesting enough that I subscribed to Smithsonian Magazine. Thanks for the recommendation!
- gfiorav 6y agoSome of the libraries featured here inspired JK Rowling for Hogwarts. You can kind of see the resemblance. Especially when you see the college students wear black robes :)