United States: Local health officers are now cautioning people in California, most especially those who come across wild animals, after a Central Valley art teacher succumbed to rabies after having been bitten by a bat in her workplace.
More about the news
According to the California Department of Public Health, the woman lost her life late last week, almost a month after being bitten by a “presumably rabid bat,” as sfgate.com reported.
Furthermore, as KFSN-TV reported, she was identified as 60-year-old Leah Seneng, an art teacher working at Bryant Middle School in southern Merced County.
Seneng had an encounter with the bat in her classroom in and around mid-October, as spotted by her close friend Laura Splotch.
Furthermore, “I don’t know if she thought it was dead or what cause it was laying around her classroom and she was trying to scoop it up and take it outside,” Splotch stated.
“She didn’t wanna harm it. But that’s when I guess, it woke up or saw the light or whatever, it swooped around a bit, and it took off,” she added.
Detail about Seneng sickness
Although she had no signs of rabies in the subsequent days after the incident, Seneng got sick after one month.
Her daughter then took her to the hospital, where she was placed on a ventilator and kept in a coma. Four days later, she passed on to eternity on November 22.
The presence of rabies was confirmed in samples taken from the Fresno County hospital where Seneng succumbed the other day, CDPH said.
Additionally, as CDPH Director Dr. Tomás Aragón stated, “Bites from bats can be incredibly small and difficult to see or to detect,” sfgate.com reported.
“It is important to wash your hands and look for any open wounds after touching a wild animal and to seek immediate medical care if bitten. It is always safest to leave wild animals alone. Do not approach, touch, or try to feed any animals that you don’t know,” Aragón added.
The department added that human rabies occurs mainly through bats among all species of animals in the United States.