Along with the silver-haired bat, the tricolored bat is one of two species of bat whose rabies variants are responsible for 70% of human rabies cases from bats in the US.[28] Additionally, the rabies virus variants associated with these two species caused 75% of cryptic rabies deaths in the US (rabies cases where the exposure route is unclear, and no bite history exists).[28] From 1958–2000, sixteen people in the US died from the rabies variant associated with tricolored bats, or 46% of all nationwide indigenous (not acquired elsewhere) rabies fatalities.[28] The tricolored bat is infrequently encountered by humans and submitted for rabies testing, with only thirty-one individuals tested for rabies in the US in 2017.