A boy in Ontario, Canada, died of rabies after contact with a bat, the first confirmed case there since 1967.
The unidentified boy had been in the hospital since early September after waking up one morning to a bat in his room. Authorities have withheld the child’s name, age and sex to protect the family’s privacy.
The rabies virus is transmitted to humans through the saliva of infected animals, including bats, raccoons, skunks, foxes, and coyotes. However, the parents of the Ontario boy did not see any signs of a bite and did not vaccinate the child against rabies after the incident.
Rabies has one of the highest mortality rates of all viruses (nearly 100 percent) with fewer than 20 documented survivors.
The boy showed no signs of a bite or scratch from the bat, so his parents did not give him the rabies vaccine.
Rabies kills about 70,000 people worldwide each year, although most deaths are concentrated in countries with inadequate public health resources, such as wide-ranging vaccination programs for people and animals.
In the U.S., fewer than 10 cases of rabies occur each year. That rate was once more than 100 before the arrival of vaccines for people and pets in the late 19th century.
The vaccine can be administered after a person has been exposed and is 100 percent effective if given within 48 hours of exposure.
The Ontario boy’s death was announced by Malcolm Lock, a physician at the Haldimand-Norfolk Health Unit, at a health board meeting Wednesday.
He said: ‘They woke up to a bat in their room.
“The parents looked, saw no signs of a bite, scratch or saliva, and did not attempt to get a rabies vaccine.”
The unnamed boy was left exposed in an area north of Sudbury, Ontario, a rugged landscape with hundreds of lakes and at least four different types of bats.
A bat’s fangs are incredibly small and someone who is bitten by the animal may not be able to see the mark, so doctors recommend that anyone who has been in contact with a bat receive a rabies vaccine.
While common beliefs about rabies may lead people to think that all infected animals are aggressive or show signs of foaming at the mouth, any change in an animal’s usual behavior can be an early indicator of rabies.
A bat that is active during the day, is on the ground, or appears unable to fly should be treated with caution.
Large swathes of Ontario’s bat population have been wiped out since the arrival of white-nose syndrome, a fungal disease first identified in New York in 2006. It causes a white fungal growth in bats that causes their skin to become disintegrate over time.
It disrupts their ability to hibernate. When they wake up early, their metabolism speeds up and uses up fat reserves stored for the winter as they struggle to find food, leaving them malnourished and without energy.
But bats are essential to the environment, keeping insect populations in check, helping to maintain an area’s ecosystem, guard against disease, and protect crops from pests.
The map above shows which animals are most likely to become infected with rabies in certain areas.
Rabies affects bats in a similar way to how it affects humans.
Once the virus reaches the brain, it binds to nerve cells, where it can replicate uncontrollably and rapidly, causing a constellation of symptoms that begin with fever, fatigue and headache.
As the infection progresses, it causes respiratory spasms that cause gasping, wheezing, and chest tightness.
It also causes spasms in the throat when swallowing when trying to drink water, causing anxiety about drinking water, also called hydrophobia. People with rabies often die from severe dehydration.
Anger changes a person’s mental state, causing confusion, agitation and aggression, as well as seizures in some cases. As the disease worsens, paralysis appears, starting in the extremities.
The infection almost always causes coma and death within a few weeks of onset if a vaccine is not administered in time.
Around the world, dogs are the main carriers of rabies. But in the United States, about 70 percent of rabies infections arise from exposure to bats.
Dr. Lock said, “It is extremely important that anyone who has any type of exposure (to bats) seek medical attention,” adding that treatment and vaccination should be sought quickly, even if bite marks are not visible. immediately.