Boy, 11, dies of rabies after waking up with bat lying on his mouth | News World

An 11-year-old boy died from rabies lower than three weeks after he woke up with a bat lying over his nose and mouth.

The kid contracted the lethal virus despite not having any apparent bite or scratch marks from the interaction, a report has shown.

Nineteen days after the incident, the boy began presenting with symptoms consistent with the disease, including vomiting, facial ‘pins and needles’, and numbness.

He visited the emergency department where he was given supportive care, as there is no such thing as a cure once the symptoms of the virus develop.

The parents of the boy – who has not been named – agreed to share their son’s story in a bid to boost awareness of the disease.

It was the primary fatal case of rabies in Ontario, Canada, in greater than 50 years.

Experts hope that a brand new report on the boy’s death, published within the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ), will provide critical guidance to assist prevent future rabies deaths.

Rabies in humans is sort of at all times fatal, but post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) with a series of rabies vaccines and human rabies immune globulin injections can prevent death if administered promptly, before symptoms develop.

Bats are essentially the most common carriers of rabies in North America, however the disease will also be passed from raccoons, skunks, and foxes.

Bats pose a very heightened risk as scratches or bites could be small and difficult to see.

Report co-author Dr Brian Hummel said: ‘Any direct human contact with a bat – even within the absence of a visual bite or scratch – is a sign for PEP and must be discussed with public health authorities.

‘This is very necessary to contemplate as we approach the summer months, when human–bat encounters are at their peak.’

He says individuals who could have been in touch with a wild animal that might potentially have rabies should seek medical attention promptly.

‘Bats may or may not show classic signs of rabies; hence, any direct human contact with a bat is taken into account high risk,’ he added.

Within the case of possible rabies virus exposure, public health authorities must be notified and PEP must be began in consultation.

Dr Hummel, a paediatric infectious disease specialist on the McMaster Children’s Hospital and McMaster University, Ontario, continued: ‘Rabies is sort of at all times fatal, with no established efficacious therapies, making prevention crucial.

‘Rabies PEP is very effective if administered promptly, in consultation with public health authorities, after any direct human contact with a bat, even within the absence of visible lesions.

‘In individuals with neurological symptoms that could be compatible with rabies, clinicians should ask about exposure to potentially rabid animals.’

There have been 27 confirmed cases of human rabies within the UK since 1924.

All but one were contracted abroad, primarily from dog bites in South Asia or Africa, before the patient returned to Britain.

The one recent case where rabies was contracted within the UK was in 2002, when a licensed bat handler in Scotland died from a rabies-like virus.

The UK has been completely freed from terrestrial rabies – the sort spread between dogs and foxes – since 1922.

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