An 11-year-old has died after contracting rabies from a bat, as health experts warned about how exposure to the rare virus can be missed.
The fatal encounter happened in Northern Ontario, Canada, where the boy had been staying during the summer of 2024.
The child was peacefully sleeping before he suddenly awoke to find a bat perched directly on his face, covering his nose and mouth, according to the case report.
Without thinking, he swatted the animal away. His father captured it and released it back outside.
At the time, the family claimed they had no reason to believe there had been a bite, a scratch or any cause for concern.
The boy appeared completely normal, uninjured with no blood, no puncture marks and no visible trauma – so they did not seek urgent medical care.
Roughly 19 days later, the child began to feel unwell, developing symptoms such as persistent vomiting.
What started as vague discomfort rapidly escalated into serious neurological illness, including bouts of tingling and numbness on one side of his face.
An 11-year-old boy has died after he was exposed through skin-to-skin contact to a bat carrying rabies in Canada (stock)
Due to the family’s insistence on no bite history, doctors initially explored more common causes but as his condition rapidly deteriorated, rabies was eventually diagnosed.
The delay in diagnosis meant the disease had already taken hold of his nervous system.
He was admitted to hospital and placed under intensive care but as with all symptomatic rabies cases, treatment could not halt the progression of the virus.
Despite more than two weeks of aggressive supportive care, his condition continued to worsen and life support was ultimately withdrawn.
The child died, surrounded by his family. It marked Ontario’s first locally acquired human rabies infection since 1967.
The boy’s relatives agreed to publicize the case in the hope that it prevents another tragedy.
Experts involved in the case say the most alarming aspect is how easily exposure to the virus can be missed.
Bats can carry rabies and their bites are often so microscopic that they leave no visible trace.
The fatal incident happened in Northern Ontario. At the time, the child’s family suspected nothing ominous and continued with everyday life (stock)
‘It was important to us and to the family to take the opportunity to find learning experiences and lessons that we could take from his case to try and help spread awareness and understanding of rabies infection and risks,’ said Dr Brian Hummel, a pediatric infectious disease specialist involved in the case.
He stressed that the absence of a wound doesn’t mean there was no exposure and warned that even brief skin contact, particularly on the face, should trigger immediate medical assessment for post exposure rabies treatment.
The case, published in the Canadian Medical Association’s Journal, is only one of a handful of instances of human rabies ever recorded in Canada.
Bats are the leading cause of human rabies deaths in the United States despite under 1 percent of the wild species actually carrying the virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
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