Bat Landing on Sleeping Face Leads to Ontario’s First Local Rabies Death in Years

An 11-year-old boy in Ontario died in 2024 after contracting rabies from a bat that landed on his face while he slept; there were no visible bite marks, delaying diagnosis and treatment, and the case marked the province’s first locally acquired human rabies infection since 1967, highlighting how bat bites can be microscopic and easily missed.