在文学和影视作品里，吸血鬼都是一种令人闻风丧胆的生物，而在现实生活中，吸血蝙蝠也夺去了许多人的生命。在秘鲁偏僻的亚马逊丛林地区，吸血蝙蝠咬人造成狂犬病暴发。而有专家称，吸血蝙蝠的这些攻击行为与人类对丛林的过度砍伐有关。 $ \* f. @6 N1 E$ g Y. ~/ n
Peru's health ministry has sent emergency teams to a remote Amazon region to battle an outbreak of rabies spread by vampire bats.9 h+ \" T ]! y3 Q
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Four children in the Awajun indigenous tribe died after being bitten by the bloodsucking mammals.& s. u4 O. V1 ~
2 R7 L1 i0 {6 y! M4 ~ Health workers have given rabies vaccine to more than 500 people who have also been attacked." F, Q: q+ q/ h: K4 U
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Some experts have linked mass vampire bat attacks on people in the Amazon to deforestation.
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, u- q0 U' ]2 k* Q) z3 y( d) U( W The rabies outbreak is focused on the community of Urakusa in the north-eastern Peruvian Amazon, close to the border with Ecuador.
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The indigenous community appealed for help after being unable to explain the illness that had killed the children.. [: Z3 ?, s7 H# k, n% ^
$ M+ d# J% d; W2 Q2 B* m The health ministry said it had sent three medical teams to treat and vaccinate people who had been bitten.
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Most of the affected population had now been vaccinated, it said, although a few had refused treatment.
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: I O# o; K2 q& b# I9 a Vampire bats usually feed on wildlife or livestock, but are sometimes known to turn to humans for food, particularly in areas where their rainforest habitat has been destroyed.
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Some local people have suggested this latest outbreak of attacks may be linked to the unusually low temperatures the Peruvian Amazon in recent years. |
发表于 2012-8-14 23:21:39
