Vampire bats kill 13

They are legendary figures of death and evil. But now vampire bats - which normally have an unfair reputation for attacking humans - have killed at least 13 people on an Amazon river island through an outbreak of rabies.

A boy of ten, Mailson Moura de Souza, was the first to lose his life about three weeks ago. His father said: 'My son and my relatives have been finished by this disease. I'm afraid the rest of my family will die as well.'

About 300 people on Portel Island, 1,500 miles north-east of Rio de Janeiro, have been bitten by the thumbsized bats, but most were vaccinated against rabies.

Scientists suspect the attacks are linked to a change in the bats' migration pattern caused by deforestation.

Vampire bats normally feed on the blood of large birds and sleeping cattle.