An 11-year-old boy has died of rabies in Ontario, Canada, after an encounter with a bat, according to a report in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. The boy's family reported that 19 days before his symptoms began, he was awakened by a bat landing on his nose and mouth during a visit to a cottage.
His father caught the bat and released it outside. The family did not seek medical assessment at the time because the boy had no visible lesions on his face and the bat did not appear to be behaving erratically.
Twenty days after the encounter, the boy was taken to an emergency room. He was initially sent home but was readmitted the following morning. His condition rapidly worsened, and doctors noted that his brainstem reflexes were absent by the fifth day of his hospital stay. Life-sustaining therapies were withdrawn on the 17th day of admission, and he died with his family present.
Doctors who authored the journal article emphasized that any direct human contact with a bat, even without a visible bite or scratch, should be discussed with public health authorities. Rabies is nearly always fatal in humans if not treated promptly with postexposure prophylaxis, a treatment that is typically successful when administered soon after exposure.
