Following the tragic death of an 11-year-old boy in Canada from bat-originated rabies, health experts have warned the public that it is extremely important to seek immediate medical attention and treatment if a person comes into direct contact with a bat, even if there is no obvious sign of a bite or scratch on the body.
According to foreign media, the incident occurred in the northern province of Ontario in Canada in the summer of 2024. Details of the case were revealed in a research report published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) on Monday. The authors of the report say that the purpose of publishing the case is to raise public awareness and prevent such tragic incidents in the future.
According to the report, the child was staying in a cottage with his family, where he woke up from his sleep when a bat sat on his nose and mouth. The child immediately removed it, while his father caught the bat in a container and later released it outside.
Since the child had no bite marks or scratches on his body, and the bat’s behavior did not seem unusual, the family did not seek immediate medical attention or initiate post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) treatment to prevent rabies.
About 19 days later, the child began to experience symptoms such as numbness, tingling, and swelling on one side of his face. Initially, doctors thought these symptoms were similar to Bell’s palsy or a viral infection of the mouth, but within a few days, his condition deteriorated rapidly.
Later, the child began to experience high fever, difficulty swallowing, mental confusion, and hallucinations, after which he was transferred to the intensive care unit (ICU). Laboratory tests confirmed that he had been infected with the rabies virus transmitted by bats. The child died 17 days after being admitted to the hospital.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), bats are the main cause of most human deaths from rabies in the United States, because their bite or scratch marks are so subtle that they are often not noticeable to people.
Experts have also advised that if a person has such an incident with a bat, they should not be released immediately, but should first contact the relevant health authorities so that they can be tested for rabies if necessary.
Doctors have stressed that the disease is almost always fatal once symptoms appear, but if treatment with the vaccine and rabies immune globulin is started immediately after possible contact with the virus, the disease can be effectively prevented.
According to experts, human rabies cases are extremely rare in Canada. According to the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association, only 28 human deaths from rabies have been recorded in the country since 1924, largely due to a vaccination program and timely treatment. Despite this, bats are still considered the main source of rabies virus transmission to humans in North America, so any direct contact with them should not be taken lightly.
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