> The parents looked at the child, didn’t see any signs of a bite or scratches or saliva, and didn’t seek getting the rabies vaccine,” he said.
> “So, unfortunately, that child is now deceased.”
PatriotofCanada86 on
Never mess around when it comes to bats, better to be paranoid than dead.
That poor family…
If emergency room wait times were not as ridiculous as they are maybe the family would have gone to be sure.
There are no words for how sad this is.
eulerRadioPick on
Bats are one of the only remaining reservoirs of Rabies in Canada. If there is even the slightest chance of a bite or scratch, get attention. By the time you have symptoms it is too late. Bats, being asymptomatic carriers, also do not show any kind of symptoms for rabies you may expect in other animals.
improbablydrunknlw on
What a horrible way to go for that poor child. My wife and I will harp on the kids over and over if you ever even touch a bat by accident or see one in your room let us know right away. Rabies is my biggest fear and I couldn’t imagine it in a child.
cp_moar on
Man dies after contracting rabies from bat [CBC – The National]
If you have any interaction with a bat, whether you can see a bite/scratch or not, just get the shots.
glormosh on
Can we talk about how the medical guidance in this article is completely contradictory to the literal event it’s talking about and the general protocol.
It’s not just if you’ve come into contact with a bat. It’s if you could have come into contact with a bat, for example, being in a room with a bat without 100% recollection of if it touched you…you know…what happened to this child.
No wonder these parents didn’t take the kid. The professionals don’t even understand what they’re talking about.
doctor_7 on
So very extremely sad.
I got hit in the face by a bat at work one day. I didn’t appear bit or scratched but the bat physically hit my right around the mouth/nose area and sort of splatted into getting close to my eye.
I was just really shocked, he actually bounced off and fell in some water. He was going to down so I rescued him and then he flew off. Apparently I should’ve saved him so they could’ve killed it to see if it had rabies, honestly I wasn’t thinking.
Regardless, being from BC and doing a lot of hiking I know bats can carry rabies regardless of showing symptoms. They can be completely a-symptomatic carriers.
I ended up having to get the rabies vaccine, though it was a bit of a hassle with the ER intake and nurses who really struggled to grasp that “a bat flew directly into my face” didn’t mean “he flew around me” or “did a flyby”. I swear I had to explain to multiple nurses multiple times and had to be a bit firm that I wanted a doctor.
Once I finally got to the ER doctor I explained what happened, he was the one that said I should’ve kept the bat. Thankfully, I mean, I shouldn’t be thankful because his actions were appropriate, he said I should definitely get the rabies vaccine because by the time we knew if I needed it or not, I would be dead. Despite the fact there was no break in skin that could be observed, even just the saliva from the bat making its way into my mouth, nose or eye could be a death sentence.
9 Comments
> The parents looked at the child, didn’t see any signs of a bite or scratches or saliva, and didn’t seek getting the rabies vaccine,” he said.
> “So, unfortunately, that child is now deceased.”
Never mess around when it comes to bats, better to be paranoid than dead.
That poor family…
If emergency room wait times were not as ridiculous as they are maybe the family would have gone to be sure.
There are no words for how sad this is.
Bats are one of the only remaining reservoirs of Rabies in Canada. If there is even the slightest chance of a bite or scratch, get attention. By the time you have symptoms it is too late. Bats, being asymptomatic carriers, also do not show any kind of symptoms for rabies you may expect in other animals.
What a horrible way to go for that poor child. My wife and I will harp on the kids over and over if you ever even touch a bat by accident or see one in your room let us know right away. Rabies is my biggest fear and I couldn’t imagine it in a child.
Man dies after contracting rabies from bat [CBC – The National]
https://youtu.be/OFrCyfSG4QM?si=X26OErM9bTb_jzAh
Rabies in man [National Library of medicine]
https://youtu.be/OOu2JjQmS6Y?si=X9uEbVO6u6r01VXC
Hydrophobia in patient with rabies [The Lancet]
https://youtu.be/GI5lW1wp6UU?si=31_YlEQe9DLk3xb9
This also happened to a 9 yr old boy in Quebec:
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2094861/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2094861/)
If you have any interaction with a bat, whether you can see a bite/scratch or not, just get the shots.
Can we talk about how the medical guidance in this article is completely contradictory to the literal event it’s talking about and the general protocol.
It’s not just if you’ve come into contact with a bat. It’s if you could have come into contact with a bat, for example, being in a room with a bat without 100% recollection of if it touched you…you know…what happened to this child.
No wonder these parents didn’t take the kid. The professionals don’t even understand what they’re talking about.
So very extremely sad.
I got hit in the face by a bat at work one day. I didn’t appear bit or scratched but the bat physically hit my right around the mouth/nose area and sort of splatted into getting close to my eye.
I was just really shocked, he actually bounced off and fell in some water. He was going to down so I rescued him and then he flew off. Apparently I should’ve saved him so they could’ve killed it to see if it had rabies, honestly I wasn’t thinking.
Regardless, being from BC and doing a lot of hiking I know bats can carry rabies regardless of showing symptoms. They can be completely a-symptomatic carriers.
I ended up having to get the rabies vaccine, though it was a bit of a hassle with the ER intake and nurses who really struggled to grasp that “a bat flew directly into my face” didn’t mean “he flew around me” or “did a flyby”. I swear I had to explain to multiple nurses multiple times and had to be a bit firm that I wanted a doctor.
Once I finally got to the ER doctor I explained what happened, he was the one that said I should’ve kept the bat. Thankfully, I mean, I shouldn’t be thankful because his actions were appropriate, he said I should definitely get the rabies vaccine because by the time we knew if I needed it or not, I would be dead. Despite the fact there was no break in skin that could be observed, even just the saliva from the bat making its way into my mouth, nose or eye could be a death sentence.