Death from vampire bats: A growing trend?

The first U.S. death from a vampire bat bite has been confirmed, and these might occur more often in the future

More vampire bats are migrating north as their souther climates get warmer, which could increase the number of their rare, but fatal attacks in the future.
(Image credit: Michael & Patricia Fogden/CORBIS)

In the first case of its kind in the United States, a man in Louisiana died last year from a vampire bat bite, which gave him a fatal case of rabies. A new report, published this month by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, explains how it happened. But what has some scientists concerned is that vampire bat bites — and the spread of rabies — could become more common in the near future. Here's what you should know:

How did this case occur?

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How common are deadly bites like these?

This was the first human death from a vampire bat bite ever recorded in the U.S. Rabies cases in general are rare in this country, and eight of the 32 human rabies cases reported here since 2000 came from exposures abroad, says the International Business Times. Most of the rabies cases occurring in the United States and Latin America are caused by bats, not dogs. And American health officials are worried that bat bites — particularly vampire bat bites — could become more frequent in the future.

Why would rabies cases like this happen more often?

Climate change. Vampire bats are native to South and Central America, but as the planet continues to warm, the climate in the southern United States becomes more like that in the bats' homeland, so we may see more vampire bats in areas that were once too cold for them. And it's not just rabies, either: A number of tropical diseases, from malaria to dengue fever, could become more common in the United States as the climate warms.

Sources: CDC, CNN.com, International Business Times, LA Times, Wash. Post