Brantford, Ont., daycare closes temporarily after child finds rabid bat, hands it to worker

A daycare in Brantford, Ont., is closed for a public health inspection after a bat found at the centre tested positive for rabies.

Grand Erie Public Health (GEPH) said Friday that it confirmed a bat discovered Monday at Creative Minds Daycare tested positive on Wednesday for the virus, prompting concern from parents.

The daycare told CBC Hamilton a child found the bat and handed it to a worker during morning playtime.

Public health said the daycare, which is near Wade Street and Brunswick Avenue in West Brant, will remain closed until the public health department has finished investigating and confirms no more bats are present. The daycare cares for around 145 children and employs around 30 people, it told CBC.

"Parents and caregivers were promptly informed," public health said in a news release. The department said it contacted "all individuals who had direct contact with the bat" and advised them to receive post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) — special treatment to prevent infection.

In a message to parents that was viewed by CBC Hamilton, the daycare said at least one child and one employee had come in contact with the bat Monday. It also said one other bat was seen alive in the facility on Tuesday, and workers captured and released it.

Kim Stewart, a parent, told CBC Hamilton she has since withdrawn her four-year-old from the daycare and is "not impressed" with how Creative Minds handled the situation.

Stewart said Creative Minds informed parents and guardians about the two bats found at the daycare this week, but that communications have been unclear. She also said a daycare staff person told her at least two more bats were found at the facility in June, but that was not communicated formally by the daycare.

"Luckily no one has been injured," Stewart said. "It could have been very bad."

CBC Hamilton also spoke to another parent who shared Stewart's concerns.

"While the risk of rabies in our region remains low, rabies is a serious illness that is fatal if untreated, but preventable with prompt medical attention," the region's acting medical officer of health, Jason Malenfant, said in a news release Friday.

"This is why we take every potential exposure seriously, act promptly to identify and follow up with anyone who may be at risk and remind everyone to avoid handling or coming into contact with wild animals."

Public health said rabies can be fatal if not treated before symptoms begin, and noted the virus can be transmitted through a bite wound, open cut or mucous membrane, such as the eyes or mouth, from the saliva or mucous of an infected animal.

Last year, a Brantford-area child died from rabies in the first domestically acquired case of human rabies in Ontario since 1967. The child had come into contact with a bat, the Haldimand-Norfolk Health Unit confirmed.

Daycare owner Vicki McNabb spoke to CBC Hamilton alongside Laura Bailey, whose daughter goes to Creative Minds. Bailey is also helping McNabb communicate with the media.

Since 2016, Bailey said, Creative Minds has operated out of an old public school building. She said the daycare is looking into whether a roof replacement in March led to bats getting in.

Bailey said the child picked up the dead bat on Monday and gave it to the worker, who promptly disposed of it and cleaned the child and the area. Creative Minds contacted the parents of the child immediately, she said, but did not inform the wider daycare community of exactly what had happened until Thursday.

"I want to make sure I have all the proper information" before sharing it with families, McNabb said.

Bailey said Creative Minds took all the right steps knowing what they knew at the time and said she thinks "99.9 per cent of parents" supported how they responded.

"Could it have happened faster? Yes," Bailey said. But McNabb and her team are experts in child care, "not crisis communications," and "we don't want to make 145 families panic until we have all the right information."

Stewart said she took her son to get a rabies shot at Brantford General Hospital on Thursday and saw a number of other children from the daycare, as well as people who work there.

Alena Lukich, spokesperson for Brant Community Healthcare System, said the team administered 10 rabies vaccinations at the hospital on Thursday.

Stewart said she remains concerned that communication from the daycare throughout the week has given parents partial information — for instance, she learned from a worker and not the daycare that a child and worker had touched the rabid bat. She also heard from her son earlier that there was at least another bat, but that wasn't confirmed.

Stewart also received photos and video from staff showing a bat flying in the daycare, two others in a bucket and fruit that was eaten by what she suspects were bats.

"Why do we have to piece it together like investigators?" asked Stewart.

Bailey said the videos and images were recorded by workers to document incidents and that they have been shared without context.

She said the bats in the bucket were found outside the daycare in June, and that a worker found them before kids came up and released them off the site. She said the video of the flying bat and the image of the bat in the container were taken Tuesday when the live bat was captured inside.

Creative Minds only knows of two bats coming inside, she said.

Bailey said bats in this part of the world typically eat insects and that the food was likely eaten by mice, which have been dealt with. She said workers found and disposed of the food when they inspected it before preparing meals in the facility's kitchen.

McNabb and Bailey said Creative Minds closed proactively and the wildlife control company they're working with has completed most of the work to ensure any bats that exit the building can't get back in. They hope to open once public health gives them the all-clear.

Going forward, Creative Minds will keep families in the loop about what's happening, McNabb told CBC Hamilton. She said she's accountable for everything that happens at the daycare and focused on moving forward.

"Things happen, and then we look at those things and we fix those things," she said.

Public health spokesperson Lindsay English told CBC Hamilton the health unit's investigation involved interviewing staff, reviewing what happened, and communicating with caregivers and health-care providers to determine who had potential exposure that warranted medical treatment.

On Aug. 8, the health unit reported another bat in the region tested positive for rabies.

In its Friday news release, it said animals including foxes, raccoons, skunks and bats can carry and spread rabies, and even bites or scratches too small to see can transmit it.

It recommends people bitten or scratched by animals seek medical attention immediately and report to public health.