Rabies all-clear for British bats

Britain's bats have been given the all-clear for rabies. Tests on nearly 2,000 sick bats of 23 different species carried out over the past 10 years have failed to find the lethal disease in a single one, three scientists from the Government's Central Veterinary Laboratory report in the latest issue of the Veterinary Record.

Meanwhile, a coroner's court in Hornsea, north london, concluded yesterday that Olawuale Shutti, 19, a British subject of Nigerian descent, died in Britain last month of the disease after being bitten by a rabid dog in Africa.