Canadian boy dies of rabies after he woke up with a bat on his face

An 11-year-old Canadian boy died from rabies, according to a report published this week in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

The boy, who was residing in northern Ontario, woke up with a bat on his nose and mouth. He smacked the bat off his face. His father caught the animal in a cooking pot and released it outdoors. The child showed no visible bite marks and the bat didn't appear to act erratically. So the boy's parents didn't seek medical attention, CNN reported. 

The boy, who isn't named in the report, began to experience a progressive tingling sensation and numbness on the right side of his face 19 days after the bat incident. This was followed by swelling of his face and a loss of appetite. 

A local urgent care clinic prescribed the boy medication to treat herpes four days after the symptoms began, presuming he had symptoms of Bell’s palsy caused by the herpes virus. Three days later, the boy began experiencing painful swallowing and vomiting. 

A boy's symptoms began to progress, and the boy's parents notified the doctors about the incident with the bat. Eventually, the boy was experiencing a fever, confusion and visual hallucinations. His condition rapidly deteriorated, and the child was placed on a ventilator and admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit. 

He died after 17 days in the hospital.