The death, which was reported on Friday, is only the fifth fatal human rabies case in Minnesota since 1975, health officials said.

A patient who was exposed to a bat in western Minnesota this year died from rabies this week, becoming the fifth person since 1975 to die from the treatable disease in the state, health officials said on Friday.

The Minnesota Department of Health said in a statement that it was still investigating the death, and did not explicitly say that a bat had caused the rabies but confirmed that the patient was exposed to a bat in July.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the patient's rabies diagnosis earlier this month. The Minnesota Department of Health said there was not a public health risk.

Fewer than 10 rabies deaths are reported annually in the United States, according to the C.D.C., and 70 percent of those deaths are attributed to exposure to bats.

Previous human cases in Minnesota -- all of which were fatal -- were recorded in 1917, 1964, 1975, 2000, 2007 and 2021, according to the department.

"If left untreated, rabies is almost always fatal," the department said. "Rabies treatment has proven to be nearly 100 percent effective at preventing the disease after an exposure, but it must be started before symptoms of rabies appear."