A vampire bat caught by disease control agents in Salvador Focus On News

A man has died and more than 40 people are being treated for possible rabies exposure in north east Brazil – after vampire bats started to feed off humans.

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Victims report waking to find their bed sheets soaked in blood – and the outbreak is the largest wave of attacks ever recorded in the region.

The death is the first recorded case of human rabies, transmitted by a bat, in Brazil since 2004.

One of the victims, Matheus Andrade, who lives in the historic centre of the city said: ‘I was bitten three times.


‘When I woke up in the morning, I found the bed was wet. It had been raining overnight and I thought water had dripped in. But it was my blood. It was such a shock.

loodstains on the bed from Matheus’s toe Focus On News

‘The wound was tiny but deep, the blood was dark and thick and the area wouldn’t stop bleeding even when I tried washing it off.’



Last Saturday 27 May disease control teams from Bahia state health authority (SESAB) were out in force culling Vampire bats by catching and applying a venom paste to their bodies, in a bid to control the rising numbers.

Matheus Andrade’s toe Focus On News

According to SESAB, Edivalson Francisco Souza, the 46-year-old who died, was milking a cow on a farm in Paramirim when he accidently stepped on a rabies-carrying bat that bit his foot.

The farmer dismissed the incident, washed the wound but failed to see a doctor.

Vampire bat caught by a resident and wrapped up in plastic Focus On News

Three weeks later, after being hospitalised for seven days suffering from headaches, nausea, severe anxiety and shortness of breath, Edivalson remembered the incident.

He tested positive for rabies but it was too late for doctors to administer the vaccine and he passed away shortly afterwards in March this year.

Matheus with his mum Rose Fernandes and sister Bruna Focus On News

SESAB immediately issued a public health alert, warning of the risks of contracting rabies and ways to stay vigilant.

Within days of the fatality, residents living in the capital city, Salvador, some 400 miles from Paramirim, reported a flurry of attacks by the blood-thirsty creatures that appear to have added human blood to their menu.

Over the last three months, dozens of frightened locals have told of being terrorised by the flying mammals at night.

Matheus Andrade’s toe Focus On News

Many have woken up to the distressing sight of their bed sheets soaked with blood after the winged animals sunk their fangs into their toes, heels and elbows.

Vampire bats, or the common bat, are small nocturnal creatures with a wingspan of about eight inches. They only live in the Americas and feed solely on blood, puncturing the skin of their prey with sharp incisors.

Aroldo Carneiro, who heads the rabies surveillance unit, said, ‘We have detected shifts in bat behaviour and a worrying increase in the population in the area. We believe this is due to deforestation and the destruction of caves, which forces the bats to migrate to the cities.

‘The city centre does not have the normal source of food for hematophagous beings (who feed on blood) such as horses and cattle. The Vampire bats must find an alternative to live so they bite dogs and cats, and when these aren’t available they turn to humans.’

He stressed that bat attacks on humans are rare in Salvador but cited destruction of the nocturnal mammals’ natural habitat and large numbers of abandoned properties in the city centre as factors contributing to the outbreak.