Boy, 11, died of rabies after bat landed on his face while he slept

An 11-year-old boy who woke to find a bat on his face later died of rabies — even though there were no warning signs that he’d been scratched or bitten, according to a scientific paper highlighting the dangers this week.The unidentified youngster was staying with family in Northern Ontario, Canada, in the summer of 2024 when he suddenly woke up to find a bat lying directly on his nose and mouth, according to the study published Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.The boy swatted the animal away, and his father captured it and released it back outside.With no visible wounds and the child acting normally, his parents saw no need for concern or medical intervention – until about 19 days later, when he developed facial numbness and started persistently vomiting, the study said.He was he was rushed to a local urgent care, where he was prescribed an antiviral drug, but his symptoms worsened, with facial weakness, slurred speech, fever, trouble swallowing, confusion and visual hallucinations.His parents admitted him to a nearby hospital days later, where his neurological condition rapidly deteriorated — and doctors diagnosed rabies, the first locally acquired case since 1967, the study noted.After more than two weeks of aggressive treatment, the boy was removed from life support and died.The distressing death was revealed in part to help raise awareness on how exposure to the deadly virus can be easily missed after contact with bats, whose bites are often so small they leave no visible trace.“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,” Dr.Brian Hummel, a pediatric infectious disease specialist involved in the case, wrote in his report.“If you get symptomatic rabies infection, it is near universally fatal.

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