Canadian boy, 11, died from rabies after waking up with bat on his mouth

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Canadian boy, 11, died from rabies after waking up with bat on his mouth

By Amarachi Orie
Updated 12 hr ago
Updated Jul 1, 2026, 11:08 AM ET
PUBLISHED Jul 1, 2026, 10:44 AM ET


A little brown bat, or Myotis lucifugus, on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada (Marek Stefunko/iStockphoto/Getty Images)

An 11-year-old Canadian boy has died from rabies after waking up with a bat on his nose and mouth. ... The episode occurred during a visit to a cottage in northern Ontario in 2024, according to a report published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal on Monday.

Woken by the shock, the boy, who wasn’t named in the report, smacked the bat off his face. His father then caught it in a cooking pot and released it outside, doctors from the Department of Pediatrics and Child Health at the University of Manitoba, Canada said in the report.

Since the child had no visible bite marks and the bat’s behavior did not seem erratic, the boy’s parents did not seek medical attention. ... However, 19 days later, the boy began to experience a progressive tingling sensation and numbness on the right side of his face, followed by facial swelling and a loss of appetite.

Four days after the symptoms began, a local urgent care clinic prescribed him medication used to treat herpes, as it was presumed he had symptoms of Bell’s palsy caused by the herpes virus. ... Three days later, he was brought to a city hospital emergency department in Ontario with painful swallowing and vomiting.

A physical exam found ulcers in his gums and a mild impairment in a nerve on the right side of the face that provides sensation and controls chewing. ... The boy’s family told the doctors about the incident with the bat and, the next day, the emergency doctor notified the local public health authority. ... However, the hospital discharged the child on a presumed diagnosis of herpes gingivostomatitis, which is sores in the lips or mouth caused by herpes.

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[msongs]

1. a bat flopping on your mouth while u sleep sounds erratic to me n t

[Easterncedar]

2. As someone with a family place in northern Ontario...

I sure wish the article had said exactly where the boy had been.

[KPN]

5. Oops nevermind. I thought it said it happened ion Vancouver Island, but that's where

he was from.

[mahina]

3. What a nightmare. Hoping his folks are able to find peace with his loss. Damn.

[AZ8theist]

4. Tossing the bat away was not a good idea.

[progressoid]

6. radio lab did an interesting story about rabies and bats.

https://radiolab.org/podcast/rodney-v-death-2209/transcript

[GreatGazoo]

7. Woke up with a brown bat in my kitchen about 2 months ago

Did the whole research rabbit hole. Rabies transmission to humans is super rare, about 2 cases per year in the US and Canada combined. Anyone who may have been bitten can start treatment empirically (postexposure prophylaxis) because once rabies gets established you are doomed. Incubation periods have been documented as long as 25 years (!)

There is one case of a woman in the US who may have been bitten in her sleep but she had many other potential exposures to the same bat. She was a heavy drinker and slept with a CPAP machine so was less likely to wake up if bitten, touched, etc. But she eventually killed the bat with a hammer in her kitchen sink and was hit with blood splatter.

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/75/wr/mm7502a4.htm

Sad that this kid did not receive better care ASAP but it sounds like they looked for bites and did not detect any (?)