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.

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

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

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.

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. The woman died late last week,

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.

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.