Canadian boy, 11, dies of rabies after waking to bat on his face

An 11-year-old Canadian boy has died from rabies after being awoken by a bat on his nose and mouth.The incident took place while the child was on a visit to a cottage in Ontario with his family in 2024, according to a report in the Canadian Medical Association Journal published on Monday.The boy, who was not named in the report, swatted the bat off his face, after which his father caught the winged mammal in a pot and released it outside.The boy's parents did not immediately seek medical attention due to their son not having any visible injuries and not thinking the bat behaved erratically, the journal states. But 19 days later, the boy began experiencing numbness and swelling on his face.The Canadian Medical Association Journal chronicled his family taking him to get emergency care over the following days and both clinics and hospital doctors trying to diagnose his symptoms. At first, an emergency clinic prescribed the boy antiviral medication used to treat infections caused by herpes viruses as they presumed he might have Bell's palsy, the temporary paralysis of facial muscles on one side of the face.Then he went to hospital on back-to-back visits, first getting a presumed diagnosis of herpes gingivostomatitis, a viral infection of the mouth and gums, then returning the following day after the right side of his face went weak, the journal states. While awaiting to be admitted, he developed a fever of 39C (102F), along with difficulty swallowing, confusion and visual hallucinations. His condition rapidly worsened that day. He was intubated and admitted to the paediatric intensive care unit, the journal notes.