A California teacher has reportedly died of rabies after she was bitten by a bat she found in her classroom. Fresno County has confirmed one of its residents passed away from the disease after a suspected bat bite, but declined to identify the victim.

"I don't know if she thought it was dead or what," Laura Splotch, a friend of the victim Leah Seneng, told KFSN

Seneng had tried to save a bat she found lying in her classroom at Bryant Middle School in Dos Palos last month.

Rabies is a fatal illness caused by a virus that attacks the nervous system, leading to central nervous system disease and, without timely medical intervention, death.

A woman from California dies after getting bitten by a bat in the classroom while she was trying to scoop it up and put it outside safely.

The life of a 60-year-old California art teacher ended after being bitten by a rabid bat she was trying to rescue in her classroom. Leah Seneng died last week after contracting rabies from the bat, Fresno County health officials told ABC30.

Leah Seneng, a 60-year-old Dos Palos middle school art teacher, was bitten by a "rabid bat" when she tried to pick it up and release it outside the classroom.

Health officials are warning Californians of the dangers associated with handling wild animals after a Central Valley art teacher was bitten by a bat inside her classroom and later died of rabies.

Fresno County health officials confirmed its first human case of rabies since 1992 has claimed the life of a California art teacher.

Although extremely rare, a Central California teacher has died of rabies after a wild bat bit her in a middle school classroom. The 60-year-old Fresno woman, Leah Seneng, found what appeared to be a lifeless bat while she was teaching her Byrant Middle School students back in October.