An 11-year-old boy succumbed to rabies infection in Ontario, Canada, according to a medical journal article published Monday by the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ).
The journal did not identify the boy or his family but documented that he was initially brought to a hospital weeks after an encounter with a bat. According to the report, the family recounted that during a visit to a cottage in northern Ontario, the boy awoke to find a bat on his nose and mouth. He swatted the bat away, and his father caught it in a cooking pot before releasing it outdoors.
The child exhibited no visible facial lesions, and his parents did not observe erratic behavior from the bat, leading them to forgo immediate medical evaluation. He was admitted to the hospital 20 days after the incident, following a second emergency room visit the morning after his initial visit. His condition rapidly deteriorated, and by day five of admission, brainstem reflexes were absent. Life-sustaining treatments were discontinued on day 17, and the boy passed away peacefully at his bedside with his family present.
Medical professionals emphasized that any direct human contact with a bat—regardless of visible bites or scratches—warrants consultation with public health authorities. Rabies is nearly invariably fatal in humans without prompt postexposure prophylaxis (PEP), though timely treatment significantly improves outcomes.
