Could a drop of bat saliva in my eye transmit rabies? Should I worry?

Question

Can a rabid bat drool like other rabid mammals? A drop of liquid from tree fell during daytime directly into my eye, and I'm really worried if it was bat saliva as when I went back to the tree, I couldn't find anything up there. The weather was also clear and it didn't rain recently.

Andrea M. Brodie, DVM · Accepted Answer

If indeed there was a rabid bat in the tree (extremely unlikely) and if it actually drooled, the droplet would be so small you would not feel it. Not only that, in order to give you a rabies infection, it would have to exactly hit an injury in your eye and then there would need to be enough moisture for the rabies virus to actually enter and penetrate the eye through which it could get to the brain. The actual possibility of this happening is 1 in several million. So no, you do not have to worry about contracting rabies that way. It could have been a bird peeing on you.

Could a drop of bat saliva in my eye transmit rabies? Should I worry?

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