The U.S. has had its first reported death from a vampire bat’s bite on record. The 19 year old migrant worker from Mexico contracted rabies from the bat after a day of work on a sugarcane plantation in Louisiana. He sought medical care for symptoms and was initially diagnosed with exertion. He later was diagnosed with rabies, after a series of misdiagnosis, at a hospital in New Orleans.
The rabies virus carried by vampire bats is the most commonly passed rabies virus to humans, and has been the leading cause in the US for 20 years. Rabies causes inflammation of the brain and, if left untreated, is fatal to humans and animals. Vampire bats were previously only found in Latin America, but are migrating North because of climate change.
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