Peru: A group of blood-sucking bats in Peru has attacked the children aged between eight and 15. Nearly 12 children died from rabies after being bitten by the bat.
The regional health official Hermann Silva said the death of the children were observed between September and February in two indigenous communities in the Amazon region of Loreto. The locals thought it was a witchcraft and didn’t report the outbreak in time.
Silva said. “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.
On Wednesday a child died from rabies and the other two patients, a boy of nine and a woman aged 22, were recovering from the illness.
Silva said vaccination teams had been sent urgently to the remote region and the government had also declared a health emergency to get medical aid to the region quickly.