Rabid vampire bats kill 23 people after rainforest exodus

Published on Wednesday 2 November 2005 00:04

RABID vampire bats killed 23 people and bit more than 1,000 when they attacked residents in their homes at night, officials in Brazil confirmed yesterday.

The victims were bitten after the bloodsucking mammals were displaced from their rainforest habitat by continued widespread tree-felling, said the authorities in Sao Paulo.

The attacks have taken place over the past two months and the latest victim was 20-year-old Valnice Santos, who died last week of rabies after being bitten in her home in the northern town of Turiacu, said Henrique Jorge dos Santos, an epidemiologist with the state health agency.

Last month, an infected colony of the bats invaded thousands of homes and killed 16 people living near marshlands in the town of Maranhao, 1,500 miles north of Sao Paulo, Mr Santos said.

Seven similar deaths occurred in three cities near Turiacu, suggesting the bats came from the neighbouring state of Para.

Deforestation in Para state is eliminating the bats' habitat and forcing them to seek other areas.

All the victims died of rabies. Health agencies have treated 1,350 people with anti-rabies medication in the past two months.

It was unclear how many of those people were infected with the rabies virus.

The state government is spraying the captured bats with poison, hoping that they fly back to their colony and kill off the rabies-infected population.

Rabies outbreaks have occurred in Brazil every year since 1986, with the worst killing 73 in 1990, according to Brazilian Health Ministry records.

Vampire bats are found across Latin America and feed on the blood of warm-blooded animals such as birds, horses and cattle.

The rabies virus, which infects the central nervous system of humans, can cause death within a matter of days from the onset of symptoms if vaccines are not administered.