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LIMA - Eleven people, four of them children, have died since Christmas Day in Peru's southeastern artisan mining districts after being bitten by rabid bats, health officials said today.
Officials say victims in the Madre de Dios and Puno departments of Peru were bitten by what they believe were the same bats and infected with rabies, an infectious viral disease.
"There are 11 cases who had rabies and passed away. The diagnoses have been proven," said Carlos Contreras, regional health director in Madre de Dios.
He said other people who had reported bat bites in the region were vaccinated against rabies even if they weren't showing symptoms of the disease.
Contreras said many of the victims were poor people who slept in open areas.
He said other people in the region had been instructed on how to avoid bat bites by sleeping under mosquito netting, for example.
Rabies is a fatal disease and most cases of the virus in humans is caused by bats.
- REUTERS
