Rabid Bats Kill at least 5 Children in Peru

This is a TRULY awful rabies story that happened this week. At least five children have been killed but the total deaths from this outbreak has been 20 villagers in a region 600 miles north of Lima, near the border with Ecuador, over the past several months. Full totals are difficult because families often do not allow autopsies.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com

Communities in this part of the remote jungle are often affected by outbreaks of attack by blood-sucking bats, reports Peru's La Jornada. This outbreak of rabies has been confirmed by the capture of several bats infected by rabies, they reported earlier today.

Rabies is a viral disease that causes inflammation of the brain in warm-blooded animals. It is usually fatal in unvaccinated people unless treated straight away. The virus is usually transmitted via bites from infected animals.

A local health official told the press that about 3,500 people have been bitten by vampire bats in the two communities so far this year.

He said this number was likely to rise because of the difficulties and the cost of trying to get vaccines to these remote areas.

Fernando Borjas, a doctor in the regional health directorate, said the outbreak started several months ago, and that it can take up to 15 hours by river to reach the remote jungle communities, by which time it is often too late to vaccinate people.

According to the UK's Daily Telegraph, Borjas said "we cannot get them the vaccines quickly enough because the communities are so remote".

He said the bats feed at night, and when they don't find large animals to feed on, they bite unprotected people.

Some reports suggest the bats are turning to humans for food because their rainforest habitats are disappearing; there are also reports that the local people say the temperatures in recent years have been unusually low in the Amazon region and that could also be a reason.

Borjas said Peru's health ministry have been sending emergency teams to the region and so far around 900 people have been immunized. But there are still thousands without vaccine, and some people have refused to be treated.

Other sources reported by Noticias24 suggest that some communities are also failing to protect themselves with mosquito nets, which are thought to be a simple way to stop the bats from biting.

Sources: Telegraph, BBC, La Jornada, Noticias24.

Written by: Catharine Paddock, PhD
Copyright: Medical News Today