Wisconsin girl recovering after rabid bat bite outside her home

A 6-year-old Tigerton girl is recovering after a bat bit her outside her Wisconsin home and later tested positive for rabies. Cece Kale received her first of four rabies shots the same day, and the bat had wrapped its wings around her leg and would not let go.

The attack happened Tuesday, June 23, while Cece was playing and climbing a tree in the yard of her family’s home in rural Shawano County. Her brothers killed the bat with a homemade, “Braveheart”-inspired sword. Another bat in Shawano County tested positive for rabies in late June, the first confirmed rabid bat in the county this year.

Rabies is a viral disease that is invariably fatal once symptoms appear, but prompt wound washing and post-exposure treatment can prevent illness. The standard preventive course includes rabies immune globulin immediately and four doses of vaccine over 14 days.

Bats and skunks are Wisconsin’s primary rabies reservoirs, and bats have outnumbered skunks in positive rabies cases for the past decade. Wisconsin’s last four human rabies cases were in 1959, 2000, 2004 and 2010, and all were linked to bats, according to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. Nationally, bats are the most frequently reported rabid animal in the United States and most U.S. rabies deaths involve bat exposure, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Wash the wound with soap and water and seek medical care right away if a bat bites, scratches or may have had contact with a person or pet. Bat bites can be tiny and may go unnoticed, so families should report possible contact immediately and capture a bat safely for testing if possible rather than letting it get away or destroying it before consultation.