Experts sound global alert over deadly bat virus after death of bitten boy

CANBERRA (AFP) - Experts on infectious diseases have warned people to stay away from bats worldwide after the recent death of an eight-year-old boy bitten in Australia.

The boy last month became the third person in the country to die of Australian bat lyssavirus (ABLV), for which there is no effective treatment.

Doctors Joshua Francis and Clare Nourse of Brisbane's Mater Children's Hospital warned an infectious diseases conference on March 21 that human-to-human transmission of the virus may be possible.

Dr Francis said the boy was bitten during a family holiday to Queensland in December 2012, but did not tell his parents.