A pensioner contracted rabies when he was bitten by a bat that was hiding inside his iPad case.

Roy Syvertson said he was using the Apple device in the living room of his home when the winged creature suddenly crawled out between the cover and the back of the iPad.

The bat sank its fangs into the stunned 86-year-old's finger which he says felt like a "little bee sting".

Mr Syvertson said he pressed down on the cover to prevent the bat from flying away inside his house, and took the animal outside and released it, but it was still there the following morning.

The OAP, from the US town of South Hampton, New Hampshire, said the bat was dead later that night, and he sensed something was wrong so he decided to call for help and get his wound looked at.

He told local TV news station WMUR: "It felt like a little bee sting.

"And I looked, and the bat was coming out of here, between the cover and the back of the pad.

"And then I got up, still squeezing it, which I'm sure he wasn't happy about, and I took him outside."

He had been using the iPad for about an hour before the bat suddenly crawled out.

After he found the bat dead outside his home, he called the New Hampshire Department of Fish and Game.

Mr Syvertson was advised to go to the hospital to begin rabies treatment as a precaution.

The bat later tested positive for rabies.

The pensioner said: "It was a good thing I didn't decide to cuddle him a little."

Mr Syvertson continues to recover from the bizarre ordeal, which has left him feeling a little uneasy.

He told NBC News: "When I open up the Manchester Union Leader [newspaper] to read now I'm very careful when I open it up.

"When I open up the refrigerator I want to make sure there's nothing in the refrigerator, cereal box… what could be lurking in there?

"So maybe I am getting paranoid I don't know."

It's still unclear how the bat entered the home and crawled into the iPad case.

Rabies is a serious infection of the brain and nerves that is usually caught from the bite or scratch of an infected animal, usually a dog.

It is found in the UK in a small number of wild bats.

The NHS says: "It's almost always fatal once symptoms appear, but treatment before this is very effective.

"There's also a vaccine for people at risk of being infected."

Source: Read Full Article