Word: rotundus
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...infectious diseases. Despite its minuscule proportions-an adult may weigh as little as one-half ounce and seldom more than 1½ ounces-the common vampire has made it economically impractical to raise cattle or horses in large areas from central Mexico to central Argentina. Efforts to destroy Desmodus rotundus by such crude methods as dynamiting or using flamethrowers in his cave roosts have proved too costly, inefficient, and disastrous for neighboring populations of beneficial, insect-eating bats...
...local doctor diagnosed the cause of death as derriengue, a form of rabies transmitted by the vampire bat, Desmodus rotundus.* Derriengue is a scourge of Latin American cattle, killing half a million head a year in Mexico alone. A rabies-infected bat shows no symptoms for three months or so; then it suddenly goes mad, even attacks other vampires. In this way, the disease is transmitted from one bat to another. Within three to 15 days, the rabid vampire dies; anything it has bitten during that period is likely to contract derriengue...
...Found only in the warmer parts of the Americas, Desmodus rotundus feeds exclusively on blood. The bite of a non-rabid vampire ordinarily does a human victim no serious harm, but rabid vampires are deadly. Derriengue, like other forms of rabies, can be prevented by vaccination...
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