Vampire bats kill Peru Cattle

A study detailed in a Public Library of Science (PLOS) journal article “Neglected Tropical Diseases” shows that in Peru, more than 500 cattle a year die of rabies. The vampire bat is known to be the principle reservoir of rabies throughout Latin America, yet the burden of vampire bat-transmitted rabies on human lives and livestock has been largely anecdotal. The report notes that rabies is among the most important zoonoses for human and animal health in Latin America. “The common vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus) is the principle reservoir, and the main prevention methods are culling of bats and vaccination of humans and livestock. In Peru, recent geographic expansion of vampire bat rabies (VBR) has raised public health concerns, but the true incidence of VBR and the rate of under-reporting of cases is unknown,” the report said. More information is available on the PLOS website: http://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0006105.