A 6-year-old Florida boy who was undergoing experimental treatment after being diagnosed with rabies has died.
Ryker Roque passed away in an Orlando hospital, his father said Sunday.
Roque had been undergoing the treatment, called the Milwaukee protocol, after he was scratched by a bat. His father, Henry Roque, had found the sick bat and put it in a bucket, telling his son not to touch it.
"So, apparently he put his hand in there and touched it and he said it only scratched him, so I frantically googled it real quick and it says to wash his hands with soap, hot water for five minutes," Henry Roque, told NBC News.
When Ryker complained of numb fingers and a headache a week later, he was rushed to the hospital. Ryker was put into a medically induced coma, forcing his body to create its own specialized antibodies to fight off the illness.
The treatment has only worked twice in the U.S. and 18 times around the world.
