Raleigh woman shares warning after encounter with rabid bat

Corneille Little said the ordeal started last week when she noticed her dog playing with a bat. When she tried to move the dog, that had been pawing at the bat, the dog scratched her.

Little boxed the bat and called Animal Control, which tested it for rabies. The test came back positive.

"Well, first I picked up the bat and put it in a box not realizing that it might be rabid, and then I put it on the back deck," she said.

According to the Department of Health and Human Services, rabies is a deadly viral disease that attacks the central nervous system. The Centers for Disease Control says human rabies cases in the United States are rare, with only 1 to 3 cases reported annually.

But still, coming in contact with animals with rabies triggers a series of shots, which Little is now undergoing.

"If you ever see one flying during the day or a specially see one on the ground during the day, don't go near it and call animal control right away. That's usually a rabid bat," she said.

Little still has several more shots to go through, and her dogs are being quarantined in her home.