Brantford, Ont.-area child dies from rabies after contact with a bat, health official says

A child from the Brantford, Ont., area has died from rabies, says a local medical officer of health. 

Dr. Malcolm Lock of the Haldimand-Norfolk Health Unit told councillors at a board of health meeting Wednesday that the child had been exposed to the virus in the Timiskaming region, just north of Sudbury. 

"They woke up with a bat in their room," Lock said. "The parents looked, didn't see any signs of a bite or scratches or saliva, and didn't seek getting a rabies vaccine." 

Last month, the child was in hospital. No other details, including the child's age, have been released.

It is the first domestically acquired case of human rabies in Ontario since 1967 and the first ever of a Brantford-Brant resident.

This case demonstrates that rabies, which can cause severe damage to the brain and spinal cord, is still circulating, Lock said. 

This year, 16 per cent of bats in the Haldimand-Norfolk area have tested positive for rabies, compared to fewer than 10 per cent in previous years, said Lock. 

"It's extremely important anyone who has a form of exposure [to bats] seeks medical attention," he said.

Treatment should be sought right away after contact with bats, even if there are no signs of a bite or rabies symptoms, said Lock. 

Treatments include a dose of rabies immune globulin and a series of rabies vaccines, which must be administrated as soon as possible after exposure, Lock said. The treatments are nearly 100 per cent effective.

Since reporting began in 1924, there have been 26 cases of rabies in Canada, some of which occurred after exposure to a rabid animal outside the country, according to the federal government.  All 26 cases were fatal. 

While other wild animals such as raccoons, skunks, foxes and dogs can become infected, rabid bats have caused almost all human cases of rabies in Canada.