An 11-year-old Canadian boy has died from rabies after an encounter with a bat, according to a report in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. The incident occurred while the child was on a family visit to a cottage in Ontario in 2024.
The boy awoke to find a bat on his face. He swatted it away, and his father captured the animal in a pot before releasing it outside. The family did not immediately seek medical attention, as the boy had no visible injuries and the bat did not appear to be acting erratically. Nineteen days later, the boy began experiencing symptoms, including numbness and swelling on his face.
He was taken for emergency care, where initial diagnoses included Bell's palsy and a viral infection of the mouth and gums. However, his condition rapidly worsened. He developed a fever of 102 degrees Fahrenheit (39 C), difficulty swallowing, confusion, and visual hallucinations. He was intubated and admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit.
Doctors strongly suspected rabies, which was later confirmed by testing. A variant of the bat rabies virus was identified by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. The boy died 17 days after being admitted to the hospital.
Rabies infections are rare in Canada, with 28 human deaths recorded since 1924, according to the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association. The association attributes this low rate to widespread vaccination programs and warns that failure to maintain these programs could lead to a resurgence of the disease. Health authorities note that any direct human contact with a bat warrants post-exposure prophylaxis, a medical treatment given after potential exposure to a rabid animal, as the infection is almost always fatal once symptoms appear.