{"id":15595,"date":"2025-09-17T16:37:15","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T20:37:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/?page_id=15595"},"modified":"2026-05-13T13:23:29","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T17:23:29","slug":"bat-tests-positive-for-rabies-in-dinwiddie-county","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/public-relations-contacts\/archived-news-releases\/2025-regional-news-releases\/bat-tests-positive-for-rabies-in-dinwiddie-county\/","title":{"rendered":"Bat Tests Positive for Rabies in Dinwiddie County"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>September 15, 2025<\/p>\n<p>Media Contact: Toinette Waldon, <a href=\"mailto:Toinette.Waldon@vdh.virginia.gov\">Toinette.Waldon@vdh.virginia.gov<\/a><br \/>\nMedia Contact: Tara Rose, <a href=\"mailto:Tara.Rose@vdh.virginia.gov\">Tara.Rose@vdh.virginia.gov<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Bat Tests Positive for Rabies in Dinwiddie County<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">(Dinwiddie, Va.) The Crater Health District has received confirmation that a bat has tested positive for the rabies virus near Luther Drive, in Church Road (Dinwiddie), VA.\u00a0 The Dinwiddie Health Department\/Crater Health District and Dinwiddie Animal Services Unit encourage animal owners to confirm that all pet vaccinations are current and report any stray animals.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Anyone with information regarding this animal&#8217;s exposure (bite, scratch, or contact with saliva by open wound or eyes, nose, or mouth) should contact the Crater Health District Environmental Health Office, at 804-863-1652. Exposures also include direct contact between your pet and the rabid animal.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPlease notify public health officials or animal control immediately if you live near Luther Drive and think you or your pet(s) had contact with the infected bat. The community\u2019s safety is our priority. Make sure your pets are vaccinated, especially against rabies, \u201csaid Crater Health District Director Alton Hart, Jr., MD, MPH, MDiv.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRabies is a preventable disease. Vaccinate your pets, avoid contact with wild animals, and seek immediate care if bitten,\u201d shares Toinette Waldon, Environmental Health Manager, Crater Health District.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The Health Department strongly advises that people take the following steps to prevent families and pets from being exposed to rabies:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Vaccinate all cats, dogs, and ferrets against rabies and keep them up to date.<\/li>\n<li>Avoid contact with wild animals or stray cats and dogs.<\/li>\n<li>Report stray animals to your local animal control agency.<\/li>\n<li>Enjoy wildlife from a distance \u2013 don\u2019t feed or encourage wild animals or stray cats and dogs to visit your premises.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/animal-contact-human-health\/rabies-control\/\">Rabies<\/a> is linked to a virus that attacks the nervous system and can be deadly if not properly treated. If you are bitten by a wild or stray animal, wash the wound(s) thoroughly with warm soapy water and contact animal control, your healthcare provider or the Crater Health District.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>To report a stray and\/or suspicious animal, please contact Dinwiddie Animal Services Unit at 804-469-4547. If you have concerns about exposure to rabies, contact your healthcare provider immediately. For more information on protecting your family from rabies, call 804-863-1652 or visit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/animal-contact-human-health\/rabies-control\/\">the VDH Rabies webpage<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em># # #<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>September 15, 2025 Media Contact: Toinette Waldon, Toinette.Waldon@vdh.virginia.gov Media Contact: Tara Rose, Tara.Rose@vdh.virginia.gov Bat Tests Positive for Rabies in Dinwiddie County (Dinwiddie, Va.) The Crater Health District has received confirmation that a bat has tested positive for the rabies virus near Luther Drive, in Church Road (Dinwiddie), VA.\u00a0 The Dinwiddie Health Department\/Crater Health District and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":258,"featured_media":0,"parent":12292,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[1218,372,370,1140,34,1219],"class_list":["post-15595","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","tag-bat","tag-crater-health-district","tag-dinwiddie-county","tag-dr-alton-hart","tag-rabies","tag-toinette-waldon"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Bat Tests Positive for Rabies in Dinwiddie County - Newsroom<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/public-relations-contacts\/archived-news-releases\/2025-regional-news-releases\/bat-tests-positive-for-rabies-in-dinwiddie-county\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bat Tests Positive for Rabies in Dinwiddie County - Newsroom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"September 15, 2025 Media Contact: Toinette Waldon, Toinette.Waldon@vdh.virginia.gov Media Contact: Tara Rose, Tara.Rose@vdh.virginia.gov Bat Tests Positive for Rabies in Dinwiddie County (Dinwiddie, Va.) The Crater Health District has received confirmation that a bat has tested positive for the rabies virus near Luther Drive, in Church Road (Dinwiddie), VA.\u00a0 The Dinwiddie Health Department\/Crater Health District and [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/public-relations-contacts\/archived-news-releases\/2025-regional-news-releases\/bat-tests-positive-for-rabies-in-dinwiddie-county\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Newsroom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-13T17:23:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/public-relations-contacts\\\/archived-news-releases\\\/2025-regional-news-releases\\\/bat-tests-positive-for-rabies-in-dinwiddie-county\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/public-relations-contacts\\\/archived-news-releases\\\/2025-regional-news-releases\\\/bat-tests-positive-for-rabies-in-dinwiddie-county\\\/\",\"name\":\"Bat Tests Positive for Rabies in Dinwiddie County - Newsroom\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-17T20:37:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-13T17:23:29+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/public-relations-contacts\\\/archived-news-releases\\\/2025-regional-news-releases\\\/bat-tests-positive-for-rabies-in-dinwiddie-county\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/public-relations-contacts\\\/archived-news-releases\\\/2025-regional-news-releases\\\/bat-tests-positive-for-rabies-in-dinwiddie-county\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/public-relations-contacts\\\/archived-news-releases\\\/2025-regional-news-releases\\\/bat-tests-positive-for-rabies-in-dinwiddie-county\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Newsroom\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Archived News Releases\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/public-relations-contacts\\\/archived-news-releases\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"2025 Regional News Releases\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/public-relations-contacts\\\/archived-news-releases\\\/2025-regional-news-releases\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":5,\"name\":\"Bat Tests Positive for Rabies in Dinwiddie County\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"Newsroom\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Bat Tests Positive for Rabies in Dinwiddie County - Newsroom","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/public-relations-contacts\/archived-news-releases\/2025-regional-news-releases\/bat-tests-positive-for-rabies-in-dinwiddie-county\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Bat Tests Positive for Rabies in Dinwiddie County - Newsroom","og_description":"September 15, 2025 Media Contact: Toinette Waldon, Toinette.Waldon@vdh.virginia.gov Media Contact: Tara Rose, Tara.Rose@vdh.virginia.gov Bat Tests Positive for Rabies in Dinwiddie County (Dinwiddie, Va.) The Crater Health District has received confirmation that a bat has tested positive for the rabies virus near Luther Drive, in Church Road (Dinwiddie), VA.\u00a0 The Dinwiddie Health Department\/Crater Health District and [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/public-relations-contacts\/archived-news-releases\/2025-regional-news-releases\/bat-tests-positive-for-rabies-in-dinwiddie-county\/","og_site_name":"Newsroom","article_modified_time":"2026-05-13T17:23:29+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/public-relations-contacts\/archived-news-releases\/2025-regional-news-releases\/bat-tests-positive-for-rabies-in-dinwiddie-county\/","url":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/public-relations-contacts\/archived-news-releases\/2025-regional-news-releases\/bat-tests-positive-for-rabies-in-dinwiddie-county\/","name":"Bat Tests Positive for Rabies in Dinwiddie County - Newsroom","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-09-17T20:37:15+00:00","dateModified":"2026-05-13T17:23:29+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/public-relations-contacts\/archived-news-releases\/2025-regional-news-releases\/bat-tests-positive-for-rabies-in-dinwiddie-county\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/public-relations-contacts\/archived-news-releases\/2025-regional-news-releases\/bat-tests-positive-for-rabies-in-dinwiddie-county\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/public-relations-contacts\/archived-news-releases\/2025-regional-news-releases\/bat-tests-positive-for-rabies-in-dinwiddie-county\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Newsroom","item":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Archived News Releases","item":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/public-relations-contacts\/archived-news-releases\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"2025 Regional News Releases","item":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/public-relations-contacts\/archived-news-releases\/2025-regional-news-releases\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":5,"name":"Bat Tests Positive for Rabies in Dinwiddie County"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/","name":"Newsroom","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/15595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/258"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15595"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/15595\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18235,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/15595\/revisions\/18235"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}