Friends and family of a California schoolteacher who died after being bitten by a rabid bat have detailed her tragic final days.
Leah Seneng, 60, was attacked by the creature while trying to get her out of her classroom on the morning of October 14 before lessons began.
It was just a small bite and the art teacher continued teaching normally in Byrant Middle School for more than a month before the rabies virus took hold.
Laura Splotch, one of Seneng’s longtime friends, told DailyMail.com that the teacher “started showing flu-like symptoms” that became severe on November 18.
Seneng’s daughter took her to the emergency room, where she rapidly deteriorated and was put into a medical coma for four days.
At the time he could only communicate through “handshakes” and “eye movements,” Splotch said. “On Friday, the family was told he wasn’t going to survive that night.”
Splotch said he received a message from Seneng’s daughter informing him of Seneng’s impending death; That’s when she drove to see her friend for the last time.
Splotch said it was “devastating” to see Seneng’s condition deteriorate, “with all the machines hooked up and everything, it was quite disturbing and terrifying.”
Leah Seneng, 60, who taught art at Byrant High School in Dos Palos, tried to rescue a bat in mid-October, but it bit her.
She added that what made it so shocking was that “to me, as a friend of hers, it seemed quite sudden.”
“However, her family had watched her get sicker and sicker, not knowing what was happening until it was too late.”
Ms Splotch added: ‘Leah was an experienced outdoorswoman and world traveler. It just didn’t occur to him that the little bat’s bite was dangerous.
“That’s why I think it’s important for others to keep in mind that any animal bite may contain rabies and that immediate treatment is essential.”
Splotch is grateful that she was able to see her friend before she passed away.
‘It was very difficult to see her that way. Leah was in a coma but we were told she could hear us but couldn’t communicate.
‘My friend said she felt Leah squeeze her when she spoke to her and I saw Leah’s eyes blink when I spoke to her.
‘We hoped she knew we were there for her. We left around 7:45pm and got the call that happened at 9:30pm. I’m grateful to be able to say goodbye.’
Rabies, if caught early, can be treated with a vaccine. But if the virus manages to take hold, it has a mortality rate close to 100 percent.
The virus enters the body through an open wound, usually from a bite or scratch from an infected animal.
It then replicates in muscle cells near the site of infection and then travels along the nerves to the central nervous system.
This process can take from a week to a month. But as the disease worsens, paralysis appears, starting with the limbs, then the brain and other organs.
The infection almost always causes coma and death within a few weeks of onset if a vaccine is not administered in time.
Detailing the morning her friend was bitten, Splotch said.: “I don’t know if she thought (the bat) was dead or why it was lying in her classroom and she was trying to pick it up and take it outside.
‘She didn’t want to hurt him. But that’s when, I guess, it woke up or saw the light or whatever, turned a little and took off.
Laura Splotch, one of Seneng’s lifelong friends, told DailyMail.com that his deterioration was rapid after he went to hospital and that he could only communicate by squeezing their hands.
Splotch said that even when Seneng was seriously ill on November 18, she did not want to go to the hospital and cause a fuss.
“Even then she didn’t want to go to the hospital, but her daughter insisted and took her to the emergency room at Saint Agnes Medical Center in Fresno,” she said.
‘She really wasn’t well at the moment. That day she tested positive for rabies and the next day the doctors put her in an induced coma.
The rabies virus is transmitted to humans through the saliva of infected animals, including bats, raccoons, skunks, foxes, and coyotes.
Following the death, the California Department of Public Health issued a warning to residents in the area.
Agency director and state public health officer Dr. Tomás J. Aragón said: ‘Bat bites can be incredibly small and difficult to see or detect.
‘It is important to wash your hands and look for open wounds after handling a wild animal, and seek immediate medical attention if bitten.
‘It is always safer to leave wild animals alone. Do not approach, touch or attempt to feed any animal you do not know.’
TO GoFundMe page has been created to help Ms. Seneng’s family during this time.
Rabies kills about 70,000 people worldwide each year, although most deaths are concentrated in countries with inadequate public health resources, such as wide-ranging vaccination programs for people and animals.
In the U.S., fewer than 10 cases of rabies occur each year.
The vaccine can be administered after a person has been exposed and is 100 percent effective if given within 48 hours of exposure.
Large swaths of California’s bat population have been wiped out since the arrival of white-nose syndrome, a fungal disease first identified in New York in 2006.
A bat’s fangs are incredibly small and someone who is bitten by the animal may not be able to see the mark, so doctors recommend that anyone who has been in contact with a bat receive a rabies vaccine.
While common beliefs about rabies may lead people to think that all infected animals are aggressive or show signs of foaming at the mouth, any change in an animal’s usual behavior can be an early indicator of rabies.
A bat that is active during the day, is on the ground, or appears unable to fly should be treated with caution.
Around the world, dogs are the main carriers of rabies. But in the United States, about 70 percent of rabies infections arise from exposure to bats.