Toronto Public Health urgently needs to locate a woman who came into contact with a rabid bat and has asked the public for help, according to local reports.

Canadian media reports that Toronto Public Health is seeking a woman who took an injured bat to the Toronto Wildlife Center at the beginning of the month. As the animal subsequently tested positive for rabies, the woman may be at risk.

“We are asking the individual who recently took a bat to the Toronto Wildlife Center to contact Toronto Public Health immediately,” Dr. Rosana Pellizzari, Associate Medical Officer of Health, said in a public-health statement.

“People can become easily infected with rabies if they are scratched or bitten by an infected bat, and this individual may need to be vaccinated,” Pellizzari added.

The woman brought the injured bat to the Wildlife Center on Sept. 4. The animal underwent tests which showed it was infected with rabies.

Pellizzari said a human can become infected if a rabid animal's saliva comes in contact with open cuts or with the mucous membranes of the mouth, nose or eyes.

Toronto Public Health alerted the public to be especially careful during autumn, when animals that could carry rabies seek shelter from the decreasing temperatures and thus come into contact with humans.

Raccoons, foxes, skunks, coyotes and bats are common sources of the rabies virus in Ontario.

Rabies, a viral disease, is preventable in humans, yet nearly 55,000 people die around the world each year, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A person usually becomes infected after being bitten by an animal carrying the virus.

Experts have developed a preventive vaccine, but once symptoms appear in a non-vaccinated person, there are little chances of surviving. If vaccination occurs immediately after being bitten, there are still chances of survival.

Symptoms during the later stages include insomnia, cerebral dysfunction, slight or partial paralysis, confusion, agitation, abnormal behavior, hallucinations, even delirium. Death usually occurs within the following several days.

There is no treatment for rabies after symptoms of the disease appear.