A six-year-old Wisconsin girl, Cecelia 'Cece' Kale, was bitten by a bat while climbing a tree outside her home last Tuesday. The incident occurred around 8 p.m. in Tigerton, approximately 65 miles west of Green Bay. The bat reportedly wrapped its wings around her leg.
Cece's older brothers, Camden, 16, and Nicklas, 11, intervened. Camden knocked the bat off with a homemade sword, and Nicklas then killed the animal with the same device. According to her mother, Elizabeth Kale, the sword had been coincidentally made on the day of the attack.
Following the incident, Cece was taken to the emergency room. Within 48 hours, the Shawano-Menominee Counties Health Department confirmed that the bat tested positive for rabies. Cece has since received the first of a series of four rabies vaccine shots.
Rabies is a viral disease that primarily affects the central nervous system, leading to severe brain disease and death if medical care is not received before symptoms appear, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). A series of four or five vaccine shots must be administered as soon as possible after exposure, and the vaccine is nearly 100 percent effective.
Elizabeth Kale described the situation as "terrifying" but stated that her family, who chose to live in a rural setting to provide their children with a specific lifestyle, does not plan to move. She noted that her daughter has been handling the pain from the shots bravely. The Shawano-Menominee Counties Health Department indicated that the area typically has at least one rabid bat per year, though rabies is rare in the U.S., with fewer than 10 deaths reported annually. Around 100,000 Americans are vaccinated each year after potential exposure.