Rabies: Teacher dies after being bitten by a bat

Many would have acted like Leah Seneng. Last October, the 60-year-old teacher found a bat in her classroom. She decides to pick it up and put it back outside. That’s when the animal bit her. At first, the art teacher at Bryant Middle School in Dos Palos, California, USA, did not experience any symptoms. But after several weeks, she fell ill. According to CBS NewsLeah Seneng is then hospitalized and plunged into an artificial coma. At the end of November, the teacher died. The disease that killed this art teacher was rabies, the California Department of Public Health has confirmed. This serious viral infection can be transmitted to humans by certain mammals, including bats, through a bite or scratch.

Rabies: the furious form or the paralytic form

The incubation period for this disease is usually two to three months. But, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), it can last less than a week or, on the contrary, up to a year, “depending on factors such as the site of virus entry and viral load”.

The first symptoms are as follows: pain, fever, itching, tingling or even unexplained burning sensations at the site of the injury. Once they appear, the disease is declared and almost always fatal.

The first symptoms are not specific and the diagnosis can only be made by virological tests. Then, the disease evolves into two possible forms:

• The furious form: hyperactivity, hallucinations, coordination disorders, aerophobia (fear of drafts or fresh air), hydrophobia (fear of water). Death occurs within a few days by cardiorespiratory arrest, notes the WHO.
• The paralytic form: paralysis of the muscles, starting from the site of the injury. The person falls into a coma and dies.

Preventive treatment after exposure to rabies

“France has been officially rabies-free since 2001. note it Ministry of Health. The rare cases observed in animals in our country concern bats, but also dogs and cats, or other animals infected in countries where the disease is prevalent, then imported illegally. The very rare cases reported in humans in France concern people who have been bitten abroad, in areas where the virus is circulating. However, a case of human rabies occurring following the bite of a man by an infected bat was identified in 2008 in Guyana.”.

In the event of exposure to a suspicious animal, it is essential to clean the wounds with soap and water for 15 minutes. But the most important thing is post-exposure prophylaxis which includes vaccination and, for the most serious cases, anti-rabies serotherapy. This must be done as quickly as possible, before the first symptoms appear. In 2023, 3,016 people received preventive prophylaxis in France after exposure to rabies, including 70% abroad, according to the Pasteur Institute.