Rabies claims man's life
A 52-year-old Lower Mainland man has become the second person in B.C. known to have died from rabies.
- LINK: Rabies backgrounder
The man was admitted to Royal Columbian Hospital in January suffering from weakness in his arms. His symptoms got worse and he died later that month.
The B.C. Centre for Disease Control says he was probably the victim of a bat bite, and that he probably came in contact with the bat in B.C.'s southern interior.
The BCCDC's Dr. Danuta Skowronski says the man would not have been saved, even if they discovered the reason for his illness sooner.
"Rabies is uniformly fatal once symptoms have started," she says. "And that's why we've started to emphasize so heavily the importance of prevention.
Skowronski says people should avoid contact with bats. She says if someone does encounter a bat, they should go to a hospital emergency for a rabies shot.
B.C.'s one other rabies-related death was a 22-year-old college student who was bitten by a bat in in Alberta in 1985.