FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) – A California art teacher died from rabies last month after apparently being infected by a bat she found in her classroom.
Leah Seneng, 60, may have been bitten when she picked up the bat to release it outside.
Her longtime friend Laura Splotch said she had known Seneng for about 15 years when their kids became friends in kindergarten.
Splotch says it was Seneng’s kind demeanor and love for the arts that bonded them.
“She was a lover of life. She spent a lot of time in the mountains where her mother lived. She loved to explore the world,” Splotch said.
According to Splotch, Seneng turned her passion for art into a career as an art teacher, most recently working at Bryant Middle School in Dos Palos.
While at the school in mid-October, Splotch says that is when Seneng found the bat in her classroom.
“I don’t know if she thought it was dead or what because it was lying around her classroom and she was trying to scoop it up and take it outside,” Splotch said. “She didn’t want to harm it. But that’s when I guess it woke up or saw the light and swooped around a bit before taking off.”
Splotch said Seneng didn’t display any rabies symptoms in the days following the attack. But about a month later, she started feeling ill and her daughter ended up taking her to the hospital where she immediately went into a coma.
Four days later, Seneng died on Nov. 22.
“It’s devastating to see her in that state, with all the machines hooked up and everything, it was pretty upsetting and scary,” Splotch said.
The Fresno County Department of Public Health says as of now there is no public threat, but the department is looking into other possible exposures.
Seneng’s friends and family continue to mourn her death.
Public health officials say immediate medical treatment is very important after someone has come into contact with an animal that may carry rabies.
Most rabies infections in the U.S. come from bats.
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