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

Shocking details revealed

The boy, 11, was on a visit with his family to a cottage in Ontario in 2024, which is when the incident took place.

The details were revealed on Monday by the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

According to the report the boy swatted the bat off his face, after which his dad caught it in a pot and released it outside.

The parents of the boy, who was not named, did not immediately seek medical attention due to their son not having any visible injuries, as per the journal.

However, 19 days later he started to feel numbness and swelling on his face.

As per the Canadian Medical Association Journal, his family took him to emergency care over the following days as both clinics and hospital doctors were trying to diagnose his symptoms.

An emergency clinic prescribed the boy antiviral medication which is used to treat infections caused by herpes viruses as they presumed he might have Bell's palsy.

This is temporary paralysis of facial muscles on one side of the face.

Doctors didn’t know it was rabies at first

However, after back-to-back hospital visits, doctors gave a presumed diagnosis of herpes gingivostomatitis, a viral infection of the mouth and gums.

The journal states that the boy then returned the following day after the right side of his face went weak.

As he waited to be admitted, the boy reportedly developed a fever of 39C (102F), along with difficulty swallowing, confusion and visual hallucinations.

That day his condition rapidly worsened and he was intubated and admitted to the paediatric intensive care unit, as per the journal.

Rabies was strongly suspected as the cause of the symptoms, the doctors at the University of Manitoba, Canada's Department of Pediatrics and Child Health said.

A test taken days later confirmed that this was the case, while the Canadian Food Inspection Agency also identified a bat rabies virus variant.

Only 17 days after being admitted to hospital, the boy died.

Previously he had no history of allergies, sick contacts, tick bites, or recent travel outside the country.

In Canada, rabies infections are rare, as there have been 28 human deaths due to rabies in the country since 1924.

“This low rate of rabies is due to widespread, ongoing vaccination programs, and failure to continue these programs can and will result in a return of disease,” the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association states on its website.

According to the report, infection is almost always fatal once symptoms develop.

How common rabies is in the UK and what are the symptoms

According to the NHS, rabies is a rare but serious infection that's usually caught from a bite or scratch of an infected animal.

It's almost always fatal once symptoms appear, but vaccination and early treatment can prevent it.

Rabies is found throughout the world, but it's very rare in the UK, the NHS says.

Although the risk of getting it while travelling is small, rabies is more common in parts of Asia, Africa, Central and South America.

While in the UK it's only found in some bats, rabies is spread by mammals, such as dogs, bats, raccoons and foxes.

You can get rabies if:

• you're bitten or scratched by an infected animal
• an infected animal licks your eyes, nose or mouth, or you have a wound that's licked by an infected animal