Up to twenty children in Peru have died from rabies after being bitten by vampire bats.
So now health workers are now vaccinating the most vulnerable in the remote Amazonas province of Condorcanqui, close to the border with Ecuador.
Families live in huts with hardly any walls and often not enough mosquito nets for everyone. The destruction of the rain forest appears to have led to a drop in the number of natural predators of the bats, helping them to thrive.
Now villagers are fighting back, collecting bats from caves so that scientists can sequence the DNA of the rabies virus to create a genetic map that may eventually help to reduce outbreaks.
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A new road linking the east and west coasts of South America is being opened.
The road runs through Brazil and Peru and some like Luis Aguirre, Governor of Peru’s Madre de Dios region, are warning of the damage the new road will cause.
But supporters, like cafe owner Suleyde Ochoa, say it will bring huge economic benefits to both countries.
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The winner of this year’s Nobel Prize for Literature, Mario Vargas Llosa, has arrived in his native Peru after receiving his award in the Swedish capital, Stockholm.
The 74-year-old author is the first Peruvian to win a Nobel prize. He faces a packed agenda of awards, ceremonies and celebrations in Peru.
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Guanape Sur island off northern Peru makes money from selling bird droppings – also known as guano. Commonly used in the 19th Century as a fertiliser, this organic product is making a comeback.
Two types of sea bird whose droppings produce guano – the Peruvian Booby and Guanay Cormorant – are protected. About 300 men live and work on the island for eight months of the year.
The guano is shipped off to organic farmers in Peru’s mountains and jungle. Peru is the world’s number one guano producer, with 30,000 tonnes a year.
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The Chaccu is a yearly round-up of wild vicunas, the national animal of Peru.
Small and slender relatives of the llama, vicunas are endangered and prized for their wool.
Because they are wild, a rope more than a mile long is used by Andean villagers to surround the animals and herd them into a corral to be sheared.
And as Dan Collyns finds out, the Chaccu is a sacred ritual which is hundreds of years old.
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In an ongoing series, BBC News focuses on aspects of life in countries and cities around the world. What may seem ordinary and familiar to the people who live there, can be surprising to those who do not.
Having a drink with friends is part of Peruvian culture – and there are very specific rules about the way that beer is shared.
Dan Collyns joins a group of football-playing friends as they enjoy a post-match drink – and tries to get to grips with a very old tradition.
Peru’s most famous archaeological site, Machu Picchu, has formally reopened after heavy rains and landslides cut rail access to the site, forcing it to close for two months.
Hundreds of tourists, including US actress Susan Sarandon, took the train to the 15th Century Inca ruin – the most-visited site in Latin America.
Peru had lost some $200m (£131m) in revenue because of the closure.
Police in Peru say they have airlifted the last of the tourists stranded near the Inca ruins of Machu Picchu after floods destroyed road and rail links.
Nearly 1,300 travellers were flown out by helicopters on Friday, a local policeman told the Associated Press.
A total of nearly 4,000 tourists and local residents have now left the area following last Sunday’s heavy flooding.
In the heart of Peru’s rainforest, the pursuit of gold is pushing one of the world’s most biodiverse ecosystems to the brink of catastrophe.
Peru is the world’s sixth producer of the precious metal – but officials say almost a quarter of it is illegally mined.
See the video report on the BBC.
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People in the southern Peruvian towns of Chincha and Pisco have marked the second anniversary of an earthquake which killed more than 500 inhabitants and destroyed thousands of homes.
Two years on, and there is anger among some residents that only 25% of the planned reconstruction has taken place in Pisco.
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