11-year-old dies from rabies after bat landed on his face while he was sleeping

An 11-year-old boy in Ontario died of rabies after a bat landed on his face while he was sleeping, according to the Canadian Medical Association Journal. The boy did not receive post-exposure rabies treatment after the incident. Public Health Ontario confirmed the death occurred in 2021. Rabies is nearly always fatal once symptoms appear, but is preventable with immediate post-exposure vaccination and immunoglobulin treatment following potential exposure.

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