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Few creatures scare us the way bats do. Bats are even used as symbols of fear in our Halloween decorations. For the most part this fear is unfounded. Most bats in the United States eat mosquitoes and other small insects. I even have bats living under the eaves on my house. I don't mind them there at all. Any animal that reduces the mosquito population is welcome. However, there is good reason to be afraid of vampire bats, especially in the tropical regions of Central and South America. In these places, vampire bats attack and kill people regularly. They kill by infecting their victims with rabies, a disease that is almost universally fatal if not immediately treated. Unfortunately, many of those who fall victim to the bite of the vampire bat have no access to that treatment, so they die.
How Vampire Bats Attack
Vampire bat attacks happen at night, when people or animals are asleep. The vampire bat itself weighs less than 2 ounces, so light that its sleeping victims never feel it crawl over them. The vampire bat's front teeth are as sharp as razor blades, they make such a clean cut that it usually doesn't wake its sleeping prey. The vampire bat will open a cut nearly a centimeter deep, usually through a blood vessel. Using its tongue, the vampire bat then licks up the blood. Chemicals in its saliva keep the blood flowing freely by inhibiting blood clotting.
38 Dead in One Tribe likely due to Vampire Bat Attacks.
The New York Times reports that 38 people have been killed in remote villages in Venezuela since June, from symptoms highly characteristic of rabies spread by vampire bat bites. The people of this area, the Warao Indians, live in primitive villages and sleep in open huts, which present no barrier to the silent vampire bat. Treatment for rabies is entirely unavailable to the Warao Indians. With no real economic participation in the Venezuelan society, even if access were available, they would have no way to pay for it. Community leaders and health professionals report little concern from the Venezuelan government for the rash of deaths. One Warao leader said that their entreaties to the Venezuelan Health Ministry were treated "as if the deaths of indigenous people are not even worth noting."
Call to Action
If this bothers you as much as it bothers me, I urge you to take action. Send an email to this address, mpps@mpps.gob.ve, at the Venezuelan Ministry of Health (Ministerio del Poder Popular para la Salud). Politely request that more attention be given to the recent outbreak of deaths among the Warao people due to rabies-like symptoms caused by vampire bat attacks as requested by Dr. Mantini-Briggs, Mr. Enrique Moraleda, and others. Add your voice to that of those demanding action instead of empty promises. Lives can be saved, and you can help. Urge your friends and colleagues to participate in this campaign as well. Let's make a difference.
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