Rabid vampire bats kills twelve children in Peru

At least twelve children have died from rabies after being attacked by blood-sucking bats in the Peruvian jungle. The outbreak of rabies killed the indigenous children after they were bitten by the vampire bats in the Amazon region of Loreto, more than 1,000km north of the capital, Lima. Aged between eight and 15, the children died between September and February according to regional health official Hermann Silva. From the symptoms and medical reports it was determined that the 12 children from the Achuar ethnic group died from an outbreak of wild rabies,' she said.
'The victims were bitten by blood-sucking bats, animals that drink blood, in the Yankuntich and Uncun communities in the jungle' 1,100 kilometers (684 miles) north of the capital Lima.
Indigenous local authorities told health workers that 'the community thought the children's deaths were due to witchcraft, and that was why they didn't report the outbreak in time.'
Peru's health minister Anibal Velasquez said on television that the government had declared a health emergency to get medical aid to the region quickly. Authorities were rushing to vaccinate people in native Achuar villages near the Morona River basin where the deaths have surged, said Fernando Melendez, the governor of the region Loreto.
Rabies deaths from bat bites are rare in Peru, where native Amazonian tribes tend to lack access to basic health care and emergencies can go unattended for days, DailyMail reports.