An 11-year-old Canadian boy has tragically succumbed to rabies after being startled by a bat on his face while at a cottage in Ontario with his family in 2024. The incident was documented in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, published on Monday. According to the report, the boy swatted the bat away and his father captured it in a pot before releasing it outside. Despite no visible injuries or erratic behavior from the bat, the parents did not seek immediate medical attention. However, 19 days later, the boy started experiencing facial numbness and swelling. His family took him to emergency care over several days as doctors tried to diagnose his symptoms, initially prescribing antiviral medication for Bell's palsy. After multiple hospital visits, he developed a fever, difficulty swallowing, confusion, and visual hallucinations. He was admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit and rapidly deteriorated, eventually being intubated. Suspecting rabies, doctors at the University of Manitoba's Department of Pediatrics and Child Health confirmed the diagnosis a few days later. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency identified a bat rabies virus variant. The boy had no history of allergies, sick contacts, tick bites, or recent international travel. Rabies is extremely rare in Canada, with only 28 human deaths due to the disease since 1924, according to the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association. They attribute this low rate to ongoing vaccination programs, emphasizing that a lapse in these efforts could lead to a resurgence of the disease. Any direct contact with a bat requires immediate rabies postexposure prophylaxis (medical treatment). Once symptoms develop, infection is almost always fatal.