A child in the Canadian province of Ontario has died from rabies after being exposed to a bat in their bedroom, according to Canadian health officials.
Dr Malcolm Lock of the Haldimand-Norfolk Health Unit announced the child’s death at a board meeting on Wednesday, noting that the child was exposed to the virus in an area north of Sudbury.
Child’s Parents Didn’t Get the Child a Rabies Vaccine as They Didn’t See Signs of a Bite or Scratch
“They woke up with a bat in their bedroom,” Dr Lock said, adding that the parents did not see signs of a bite or scratches and did not get the child a rabies vaccine as a result.
It marks the first domestically-acquired case of human rabies in Ontario since 1967. The child, whose age was not disclosed by the officials, was taken to hospital after the incident in early September and later died.
What is Rabies?
Rabies is a rare but deadly viral disease that can be spread to humans from an infected animal – such as bats, coyotes, foxes or raccoons – most commonly through its saliva. The disease, which can cause severe damage to the brain and the spinal cord, nearly always causes death once symptoms have appeared, according to the World Health Organization.
Dr Lock said the percentage of bats with rabies in the southern Ontario region he oversees has increased from less than 10% to 16% in recent years. In Canada, there have been 28 known cases of rabies in humans since reporting began in 1924, according to the federal government’s data. All the cases were fatal.
Just last week, an American man died due to rabies exposure after being exposed to a bat in western Minnesota in July, as reported by the New York Times.
