RABIES SPREAD BY VAMPIRE BATS KILLS FIFTH CHILD IN PERU
Baku, September 25 (AZERTAC). A fifth child has died in Peru in an outbreak of rabies spread by vampire bats, say health officials, according to BBC News.
The death in the northern Amazon region brings the total number of people killed in the outbreak to 20.
A local health official said 3,500 people had been bitten by the bloodsucking bats.
He warned the number of deaths could rise because of the costs and difficulties of getting vaccines to the affected areas.
“There are very remote places, whose journey can take up to 15 hours through the jungle rivers,” said Fernando Borjas in the regional capital, Chachapoyas.
The dead children, aged between five and 10 years old, were all members of the indigenous Awajun and Wampis communities, living in the north-eastern Peruvian Amazon, close to the border with Ecuador.
Peru`s health ministry has sent emergency teams to the region and Mr Borjas said 900 people had already been immunized. But thousands have had no vaccine - some indigenous people were reported to have refused treatment.
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