At least five children in a remote Amazon region of Peru have now died of rabies after being bitten by rabid vampire bats, say health officials, bringing the total number of deaths in this latest outbreak to 20.

A Health Ministry announcement reported by the Peruvian press, said that:

“We have received reports of five children killed in an outbreak of rabies that has been going on for several months in the region.”

The children, all aged between 5 and 10 years, were from the Awajun and Wampis indiginous communities situated about 600 miles north of the capital Lima, on the border with Ecuador.

According to a local news report relayed by Noticias24, it has been suggested that three more children may also have died from rabies, but this could not be confirmed because due to their beliefs, their families refused to allow their bodies to be autopsied.

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