11-Year-Old Canadian Boy Dies of Rabies After Bat Encounter at Cottage

An 11-year-old boy from northern Ontario died of rabies after a bat was discovered on his nose and mouth during a cottage visit in 2024. The child removed the bat, and his father later captured it in a pot before releasing it outdoors. Because there were no visible bite marks, the family did not seek medical care at the time.

Nineteen days later the boy developed facial tingling, numbness, swelling and loss of appetite. He was initially treated for presumed Bell's palsy with antiviral medication, then admitted to a hospital with painful swallowing, vomiting and gum ulcers. After reporting the bat encounter, doctors suspected rabies, and a PCR test confirmed the diagnosis four days into his admission. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency identified a bat rabies virus variant. The boy died on his 17th day in hospital.

The case is the first locally acquired rabies infection in Ontario since 1967 and one of only 28 human rabies deaths reported in Canada since 1924. Health officials note that rabies is almost always fatal once symptoms appear and that any direct contact with bats is considered high risk. They advise immediate wound cleaning, prompt medical evaluation and post-exposure prophylaxis when exposure is suspected.

"When we saw the patient in the PICU, we strongly suspected rabies," the University of Manitoba doctors said.

Public health agencies continue to stress vaccination of pets, avoidance of wild animals and securing homes against wildlife to reduce the risk of rabies transmission.