An 11-year-old Canadian boy has died from rabies after waking up with a bat on his nose and mouth during a visit to a cottage in northern Ontario in 2024. The boy smacked the bat off his face, and his father then caught it in a cooking pot and released it outside.

Rabies Diagnosis

Since the child had no visible bite marks and the bat’s behavior did not seem erratic, the boy’s parents did not seek medical attention. However, 19 days later, the boy began to experience a progressive tingling sensation and numbness on the right side of his face, followed by facial swelling and a loss of appetite.

The boy was initially misdiagnosed with Bell’s palsy caused by the herpes virus, but his condition rapidly deteriorated, and he was eventually placed on a ventilator and admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit. A PCR test confirmed a rabies diagnosis on the fourth day of the boy’s admission.

Rabies is a virus that attacks the central nervous system of humans and other mammals, and it is almost always fatal once symptoms appear. It is contracted through an infected animal’s bite or scratch, or if the animal’s bodily fluids enter the eyes, nose, mouth, or an open wound.

Prevention and Treatment

The Canadian Veterinary Medical Association advises people not to let pets roam freely, not to approach unknown animals, to report wild animals behaving strangely to local animal control or related authorities, and to protect homes from wildlife by sealing entry points and securing garbage containers.

If administered promptly, before symptoms appear, rabies post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) — a treatment that includes vaccines and immune globulin, a medication that reduces the severity of infections — can prevent rabies. However, there is no established, effective treatment for rabies once symptoms appear, and death usually occurs within seven to 14 days of symptoms starting.

Original reporting: WESH Orlando — read the source article.