A child has died from rabies after waking up to a bat in their bedroom, according to a Canadian health official.
The case in Brant County, southern Ontario, was confirmed a month ago, with the resident receiving hospital treatment.
It is the first case involving a human in Brant County – which is roughly 200km southwest of Toronto – and the first domestically-acquired case of human rabies in Ontario since 1967.
This week, Dr Malcolm Lock, acting medical officer of health at the Haldimand-Norfolk Health Unit, which covers a part of southern Ontario, revealed the patient was a child.
“Unfortunately, the case that we had here was a child and basically they woke up with a bat in the room,” he told a health board meeting in Norfolk County.
“The parents looked at the child, didn’t see any signs of a bite or scratches or saliva and didn’t seek getting the rabies vaccine. So, unfortunately, that child is now deceased.”
Brant County Health Unit said last month the suspected exposure came from a bat in the Gowganda area of the Timiskaming region, further north in Ontario.
The health body warned bats “in all areas of Ontario are known to carry rabies”, while Dr Lock said the positivity rate for tested bats is 16% this year – an increase from 10% in previous years.
“So that’s another thing we’re trying to make the public aware of,” he added.
“If they have any communication with bats at all or wake up with a bat in their room then they should seek advice.”
Cases of rabies are extremely rare in Canada, with just 26 recorded since 1924. However, all resulted in death.
In the UK, rabies is a “rare but serious infection” that is “almost always fatal once symptoms appear”, according to the NHS.
There have been 26 cases recorded in the UK since 1946 – all of which have involved people who were infected abroad.
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Last month, a resident in Minnesota, in the US, died of rabies after coming into contact with a bat in July.
The person was over 65, according to the Minnesota Department of Health.
