Facebook to the rescue
2007-09-22 08:25
Toronto - Toronto Public Health officials have put the online social network Facebook to good use - to locate a woman who needed rabies shots because she had handled a rabid bat.
The department's manager of communications, Mary Margaret Crapper, said Toronto Public Health had explored all the traditional methods of trying to find the woman before turning to Facebook.
"Telephone book. Google. In situations like this we even went to the police to see if they may be able to assist," Crapper said.
The department had even issued an advisory to the media to alert the public about its search for a woman who had dropped off an injured bat to the Toronto Wildlife Centre in early September. But no one stepped forward.
Then the idea of using Facebook was raised. One of Crapper's colleagues sent messages to a number of women on Facebook with names similar to the person they were seeking.
And Facebook delivered.
"Once we tried a few different spellings on Facebook, we had the individual within an hour," Crapper said.
People who have had close exposure to bats are often advised to get rabies shots to prevent development of the disease, which is almost always fatal.
The woman tracked down on Facebook has begun a series of rabies shots.
Sapa-AP
- SAPA