There is Ontario’s first human rabies case in the province that has been reported in Ontario since the year 1967. The affected person is a Brantford-Brant resident who is receiving treatment in a hospital.
Based on CBC News, the health Department of the Brant County BCHU has traced a bat from the Gowanda area located in the Timiskaming region which is to the North of Sudbury as a possible point where exposure occurred.
Rabies is a disease caused by a viral infection to the brain and spinal cord, and without treatment, it is almost always fatal.
According to Dr Kieran Moore, Ontario Chief Medical Officer of Health, infection was most likely the result of ‘direct contact’ with a bat.
Dr. Moore encouraged people in Ontario to go to the nearest emergency room if they have had contact with a bat, whether or not it was followed by bites or scratches, or if a bat’s salivary or infected tissue was exposed to them in any way.
For example, family members and health care workers of the infected person are evaluated and given post exposure prophylaxis to prevent the infection in close contacts. “A healthcare professional will evaluate and look-up rabies exposure risk in collaboration with the public health department and may administer rabies immunization,” noted Dr Moore.
If the rabies post-exposure prophylaxis, as the treatment is known which includes a rabies immune globulin injection and a rabies vaccine series, is done effectively and in time, the chances of the disease developing are virtually zero.
There have been no human rabies cases reported in Canada since 1924 – only a total of 26 have been documented – and no human-to-human rabies transmission has ever occurred.
In an attempt to help protect residents and their pets, the BCHU has provided additional measures such as making sure that pets and farm animals are up to date with rabies vaccination, avoiding foreign animals, preventing pets from coming in contact with wild animals, adult supervision of children when around animals, preventing pets from going outside unattended and ensuring pets are fed indoors to avoid attracting wildlife. If one is in any other situation where there is exposure to bats or rabid animals, it is advisable to wash the area for 20 minutes with soap and water and go to hospital.
