Boy, 11, dies from rabies after waking up to bat on his face

A newly published report has revealed a young boy aged just 11 tragically died from rabies after waking up to find a bat had landed on his face while he slept.

According to findings published this week in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, the fatal encounter occurred during a family holiday at a cottage in Ontario, Canada, in 2024.

The child, whose identity has been withheld, was awoken from his sleep during the night when the infected animal landed on his nose and mouth, passing the deadly viral disease onto the child.

His death is only one of 28 rabies fatalities recorded in Canada in the last century.

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Upon being startled awake, the child is said to have brushed the bat away from his face, where his father then captured the creature with a pot before releasing it outside.

Sadly, unaware of the severity of the situation, the family chose not to pursue immediate medical attention for their son, which proved to be a fatal miscalculation.

According to the journal report, this decision stemmed from the absence of any visible wounds or bite marks on the child, paired with the bat failing to display unusual or aggressive behaviour when witnessed.

Experts caution against direct contact with bats as grounds for rabies post-exposure prophylaxis - the medical intervention deployed straight after potential exposure to a rabid animal.

The boy's first symptoms emerged nearly three weeks after the initial exposure, developing facial numbness and swelling, prompting his family to seek emergency care.

A series of diagnostic missteps followed, with an initial clinic visit granting antiviral medication typically prescribed for herpes infections.

Physicians first concluded he had herpes gingivostomatitis, a viral mouth and gum infection.

After medication proved redundant, it was at this stage that doctors suspected Bell's palsy - a condition causing temporary facial muscle paralysis.

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As the boy's condition worsened, back-to-back hospital visits only brought further incorrect diagnoses.

The family urgently returned one day after weakness spread across the right side of his face, where the child then deteriorated dramatically while awaiting admission - with his temperature spiking to 39C.

He struggled to swallow, became confused and experienced visual hallucinations, resulting in medical staff intubating him and transferring him to the paediatric intensive care unit.

It was only once it was too late that specialists at the University of Manitoba's Department of Pediatrics and Child Health voiced suspicions of rabies.

Testing confirmed their fears, with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency identifying a bat rabies virus variant.

The boy died 17 days after his hospital admission, with no relevant medical history such as allergies, recent illness contacts, tick bites or overseas travel.

Despite the scarcity of such incidents, the case highlights the devastating consequences when immediate post-exposure treatment is not administered - as once symptoms manifest, rabies infection proves "almost universally fatal", the journal report states.

Rabies in humans remains exceptionally rare in Canada, with the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association attributing this to rigorous vaccination programmes.

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