13/07/2026
‼️RABIES FROM A BAT BITE‼️
An 11-year-old boy just died rabies — despite having NO visible bites or scratches.
In a tragic case recently published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, an 11-year-old Canadian boy died of rabies after waking up to find a bat resting on his face during a 2024 family cottage trip in Ontario.
Because the boy showed no visible wounds and the bat did not display erratic behavior, his parents did not seek medical attention. Unfortunately, nineteen days later, the child developed progressive facial numbness and difficulty swallowing.
Despite subsequent hospitalization and intensive medical care, his condition rapidly deteriorated, and he died several weeks later. This case represents Ontario's first locally acquired human rabies case since 1967, emphasizing how easily minuscule bat bites can go completely unnoticed.
Infectious disease specialists are using this devastating loss to urge immediate action, emphasizing that any direct human contact with a bat is a high-risk event requiring prompt medical evaluation. Unlike domestic pets, wild bats are the primary source of human rabies in North America, with the virus easily transmitted through tiny, painless scratches or microscopic saliva contact.
Medical experts stress that rabies is almost 100% fatal once symptoms begin, but it is entirely preventable with prompt post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP). Public health agencies advise that if a bat enters a room with a sleeping person or child, the animal should be safely captured for testing, and medical treatment must be sought immediately—even if no injury is visible.
SOURCE: Sreeram, P., Saini, N., Choong, K., Cunan, E., Jackson, A. C., Pernica, J. M., & Hummel, B. (2026). Fatal rabies in a child. CMAJ, 198(25), E969-E972.
