An 11-year-old boy woke up at a northern Ontario cottage in the summer of 2024 to find a bat resting on his nose and mouth. Within weeks, he was dead.
Infectious disease physicians at Mc Master Children’s Hospital in Hamilton the case Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, with a clear message for families across the province: any contact with a bat requires immediate medical attention.
That warning carries weight in Simcoe County, where bats are common in residential and cottage settings. The Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit investigated more than 1,600 potential rabies exposure incidents in 2023 alone, and the province confirmed 121 rabies cases in Ontario wildlife in 2025, with 116 of those involving bat variants.
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What happened
The boy swatted the bat away after waking. His father caught it in a pot and released it outside. His parents checked his face and didn’t see any scratches or bites. The bat hadn’t been acting strangely. They didn’t call a doctor. Nearly three weeks later, he developed tingling, numbness and swelling on the right side of his face. A provider at an urgent care clinic suspected Bell’s palsy, a temporary facial paralysis sometimes caused by viral infections, and prescribed an antiviral. Days after that, he came to the Mc Master emergency department with vomiting and pain while swallowing. His facial weakness worsened. He developed slurred speech. He was admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit. By his fifth day in hospital, he had no reflexes in his brain stem, the part of the brain that regulates breathing and heart rate. He was eventually taken off life support and “died peacefully with his family at his bedside,” the case report said.Why the family came forward
Dr. Brian Hummel, a pediatric infectious disease physician at Mc Master Children’s Hospital and the case report’s senior author, said publishing the case was a deliberate decision made with the family. “It was important to us and to the family to take the opportunity to find learning experiences and lessons that we could take from his case to try and help spread awareness and understanding of rabies infection and risks,” he said. The boy’s death was the first human rabies case in Ontario since 1967. The most recent case before his was a man in British Columbia who died in 2019 after exposure to a bat. Only 28 human rabies cases have been reported in Canada since 1924.Why bats are the main concern
Rabies can be carried by skunks, raccoons and foxes, but bats are the primary risk for human exposure in Canada. Bats have tiny teeth that can break skin without leaving a visible mark. Even without a bite or scratch, saliva from a bat can enter through a cut or through eyes, nose or mouth. In Simcoe and Muskoka, brown bats are regularly found around homes and cottages. According to data from the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit, roughly four to six percent of brown bats submitted for testing have tested positive for rabies. The Ontario government notes that approximately seven percent of bats submitted for testing carry rabies province-wide; however this figure reflects only those flagged for potential human contact rather than all bats overall population-wise. Rabies is considered endemic among Ontario’s bat population across all regions of this province. “Any time a bat has touched human skin that would be reason enough to go see your health-care provider right away,” Hummel said.Treatment works but only before symptoms begin
Once symptoms appear there’s no treatment available anymore; however, the virus has long incubation periods-usually several weeks-which creates windows for prevention opportunities ahead. Post – exposure prophylaxis involves series vaccines along immunoglobulin injections , which start fighting viruses immediately once administered. First vaccine given straightaway followed additional shots days three , seven fourteen. “If you get symptomatic rabies infection it is near universally fatal. But if you get prevention before symptoms develop then it’s nearly always successful,” Hummel stated. Side effects from vaccines tend be mild short-lived including fever chills fatigue. There’s very rare risk anaphylaxis which is why patients wait briefly after receiving their shot before leaving office. Older versions vaccines carried small risks Guillain-Barré syndrome-a rare condition wherein immune systems attack body’s nerves-but there’ve been no known links modern rabies vaccines reports regarding this issue confirmed yet. “Given near certainty death associated resulting infections benefits almost always outweigh possible risks,” Dr. Hummel added again commenting further. Primary care providers typically work alongside public health units assessing whether post-exposure treatments needed or not : residents living Simcoe County should reach out directly towards Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit visit nearest emergency department believe they may had encountered some bats during recent times ! What do you think of this article?Source link
