Lima - About 100 people have been bitten in recent days by bats in an unusual ongoing series of attacks in Peru's Amazon region of Bagua, where a 6-year-old boy has died, apparently after contracting rabies.

The daily Peru 21 on Thursday quoted regional health authorities, who said that they fear there is a rabies outbreak among the bats, which would explain the 300 bat-bite cases registered in the last 12 months.

Therefore, authorities have announced the vaccination of 3,500 people in the community of Kandungos and 24 nearby villages, all of them located in a remote area that is 10 hours by river from the nearest large town.

The bats responsible for the attacks are of the species that feeds on blood. They use their razor sharp teeth to slice the skin of victims - both animals and humans - who may not even feel the strike, since they are often attacked in their sleep and the bats deposit a slightly anesthetic fluid at the wound site. EFE