B.C.’s Health Minister says a fatal case of rabies on Vancouver Island over the weekend is an “extraordinary tragedy” for the victim’s family and friends.

Nick Major, a 21-year-old from Parksville, died in a Vancouver hospital on Saturday after showing symptoms of rabies, which came on about six weeks after coming in contact with a bat in mid-May. Major’s death was the first reported case of rabies in the province since 2003.

Adrian Dix says these cases are rare and says there’s only one real way to treat rabies at the moment.

“If for whatever reason you’re touched under those circumstances, go and see someone, because it can obviously make a huge difference. But it’s a huge sense of loss I think for communities and for families, and we think of them today. It’s just a terrible loss,” Dix says.

“These are very rare cases, but if people are touched in any way by a bat, this is really the only way to treat rabies in British Columbia at the moment, they should go immediately to see a medical professional.”

Provincial health officer Doctor Bonnie Henry says about 13 per cent of bats that have been tested in B.C. have been shown to carry rabies, and says bats are the only known carrier of the disease in the province.

(Photo: GoFundMe)