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

Canadian boy, 11, dies of rabies after waking to bat on his faceImage source, Getty ImagesBySareen HabeshianPublished1 minute agoAn 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 since their son did not have an visible lesions and because they did not find that the bat behaved erratically. 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 pediatric intensive care unit, the journal notes. Doctors at the University of Manitoba, Canada's Department of Pediatrics and Child Health said they strongly suspected rabies.Days later, a test confirmed that was the case. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency also identif...