Boy, 6, dies from rabies after bat scratch

Ryker Roque, 6, died after contracting rabies from a bat.

Rabies has claimed a six-year-old boy's life after the youngster contracted the dedly disease from a bat scratch.

Ryker Roque died on Sunday at an Orlando hospital after touching a bat that his father had found in the garden and put in a bucket, the Mail Online reported.

A person can survive rabies if they are given a vaccine immediately after being infected, but Ryker's parents didn't take him to the hospital because their son was afraid of needles.

A week later his fingers started to numb, he was unable to walk and began hallucinating, prompting his parents to take him to seek medical help.

He underwent experimental treatment that has only cured two patients in the US, but succumbed to the nearly always fatal disease.

Because the virus had infected his brain, Ryker's only chance at life was to undergo an experimental treatment called the Milwaukee Protocol.

The treatment involves putting the patient into a coma while administering anti-viral drugs.

The majority of rabies cases reported to the CDC are contracted from wild animals such as raccoons, skunks, bats and foxes.

Early symptoms include fever, headache and weakness.

As the disease progresses to the brain, patients experience hallucinations, increased saliva, confusion, paralysis and usually die within days.

Rabies kills about 60,000 people every year worldwide, mostly children in Africa and Asia, according to the CDC.