Displaced rabid bats kill 23

RABIES-CARRYING vampire bats fleeing deforestation of the Amazon region in Brazil have bitten more than 1,000 people, leaving 23 dead.

The victims were attacked during the past two months after the flying mammals were displaced from their rainforest habitat by continued widespread tree-felling, said Sao Paulo authorities.

The latest victim was 20-year-old Valnice Santos, who died of rabies after being bitten in her home in the northern town of Turiacu, said Henrique Jorge dos Santos, an epidemiologist with the Maranhao state health agency.