Updated

Updated · CBC Sports · Jun 29

Ontario Doctors Urge Care After Any Bat Contact Following 11-Year-Old's Rabies Death

Updated

Updated · CBC Sports · Jun 29

Ontario Doctors Urge Care After Any Bat Contact Following 11-Year-Old's Rabies Death

Q: A boy's death has sparked a warning. What is the one crucial step that makes rabies 100% preventable?

The crucial step is to get immediate medical care after any possible rabies exposure and start post-exposure prophylaxis before symptoms begin. Doctors say rabies is almost always fatal once symptoms appear, but it is nearly 100% preventable if treatment is given in time. That treatment is post-exposure prophylaxis, or PEP, which includes a rabies immune globulin injection and a series of rabies vaccines. The Ontario boy’s death has become a warning because his family did not seek care after a bat was found on his face. Even without a visible bite or scratch, bat contact can be dangerous because their teeth are tiny and saliva exposure may go unnoticed. By the time neurological symptoms developed weeks later, it was too late for treatment to work. The practical takeaway from doctors and public health officials is simple: after any direct contact with a bat, or if contact cannot be ruled out, seek urgent medical advice right away. Do not wait for symptoms, and do not assume there was no risk just because you cannot see a wound. That rapid response is what makes rabies preventable.

3 articles · Updated · CBC Sports · Jun 29

An 11-year-old Ontario boy died of rabies after a bat lay on his nose and mouth at a cottage in 2024, a case doctors detailed Monday to warn that even unnoticed exposure can be fatal.
Nearly 3 weeks later, he developed facial tingling, numbness and swelling, then rapidly deteriorated; once rabies symptoms appear, doctors say there is no treatment or cure.
Any bat contact should prompt immediate medical assessment because bats' tiny bites can go unnoticed and saliva can infect through cuts or the eyes, nose or mouth.
Post-exposure treatment can still stop infection before symptoms start, using rabies immunoglobulin and vaccines given on days 0, 3, 7 and 14.
Rabies remains extraordinarily rare in Canada—28 human cases since 1924—but bat exposure causes most infections, and Ontario had not reported a case since 1967 before the boy's death.