| Submit your comments on this article | ||
| -Short Attention Span Theater- | ||
| California middle school teacher dies of rabies from bat contact | ||
| 2024-11-29 | ||
The Public Health Department says it believes the patient was bitten by a bat in Merced County. The patient, identified as 60-year-old Leah Seneng, was a teacher at Byrant Middle School in Dos Palos. [A friend] said Leah found a bat in her classroom. "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. 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." Apparently whether or not the victim believed she had been bitten is conjecture at that this point. Bats have very small teeth. Witnessed bat bites have been known to leave NO VISIBLE EVIDENCE of a bite immediately afterward. Communications from various health authorities continue to be unclear about what to do in case of contact as described above. Basic principle: have nothing whatsoever to do with bats under any conditions, never even touch one. If you wake up in your bedroom some night & find a bat fluttering around, know that you could have just been bitten (no way to really be sure about that since the bites are so hard to detect). One bit of advice after a possible bat bite is now in doubt. Teaching about what to do with a live bat in your house had been: capture the bat alive (without making contact with it, as if that were possible) and send it to a facility that can test the bat for rabies. If the bat tests negative, no post exposure treatment to prevent rabies is necessary. If the bat proves positive for rabies, initiate post exposure treatment. The time delay for this kind of testing adds no risk for the patient -- that was the reasoning used to justify the delay. Recently a middle aged man in the USA submitted a bat for testing. A day or so later the bat proved positive for rabies. The man THEN received rabies prophylaxis, and died of rabies anyway. It is safest to seek medical attention for this kind of doubtful exposure to bats and to insist on prophylaxis even over the objection of the physician. A relative recently had a doubtful bite sustained while she was out on her lawn at night (no lighting, bare legged). She went to an urgent care center for prophylaxis. The physician examined her leg, found nothing, and said she would be better off waiting. She didn't agree and insisted on getting the prophylaxis. It was the only way to be sure. A GoFundMe has been launched for the victim's funeral expenses. Inasmuch as she seemed to be at work during her bat episode, I would think her death should fall under the local workmen's compensation system. Unfortunately the victim died of ignorance as well as rabies.
| ||
| Posted by:Elmaper+McGurque1612 |
| #3 Probably the vast majority of bats getting into homes are not carrying rabies. Just be aware of this issue. |
| Posted by: Elmaper+McGurque1612 2024-11-29 16:53 |
| #2 Bats used to come into our house through the chimney. We found bad(t)minton rackets were perfect for stunning them and removing them. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2024-11-29 14:31 |
| #1 In 1928 my aunt Janet opened a kitchen screen door one hot summer night, a bat flew straight in, collided with her forehead, then flew out as the door slammed shut. Janet fell backwards onto the kitchen floor, then got up. No visible injury at first, then she got a large bruise on her forehead. Weeks later she developed a bad headache, spasms in her throat, then confusion. She was dead within a week or two. My mother and my grandmother both witnessed the incident. Grandmother was very upset and said this was a terrible "omen". Mother remembered how Janet's symptoms progressed. Years later I figured out rabies was the culprit. AFAICT none at the time knew bats could transmit rabies this way. None would have considered getting Janet rabies prophylaxis which was available even then. |
| Posted by: Elmaper+McGurque1612 2024-11-29 13:42 |