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

[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 (?)