Overview
- The case report describes an 11-year-old who, while at a cottage in northern Ontario in summer 2024, woke to find a bat on his nose and mouth and showed no visible bite or scratch.
- Nineteen days after the encounter he developed facial tingling, numbness and vomiting, was initially misdiagnosed, deteriorated rapidly with neurological decline, and died after life-sustaining therapy was withdrawn on hospital day 17.
- Publication of the Canadian Medical Association Journal report in late June 2026 has renewed public-health warnings that any direct contact with a bat should prompt medical assessment.
- Post-exposure prophylaxis consists of an immediate rabies vaccine dose plus shots on days 3, 7 and 14 and an injection of rabies immunoglobulin at first visit, and it is highly effective if given before symptoms appear.
- Human rabies is very rare in Canada with 28 cases reported since 1924, bats are the main source in North America, and public-health guidance says to safely capture and test a bat when possible and consult health authorities about PEP.