Drunk monkey on rampage attacks ‘4,000 people’ after swigging booze with locals

A monkey on a drunken rampage reportedly attacked thousands people in just a matter of months.

Several patients including a nine-year-old boy have received treatment at Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital (STIDH) in Kathmandu, Nepal, after surge in the number of ape bites reported in the region.

One victim's dad even told the Kathmandu Post a whopping 4000 people had been assaulted by just one animal over the past two to three months.

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The aggressive primate in question reportedly used to go into shops and drink alcohol with residents, but would grow vicious and bite children after one too many drinks.

According to STIDH data, monkey bites are the second-most common animal bites in Nepal after dog bites.

Records from the last 14 years show the number of monkey bites usually peak in the country in July and August, meaning an epidemic could be on its way.

Many of the bites are contracted outside temples that monkeys call home, such as the Buddhist temple Swayambhunath.

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The wounds themselves are unpleasant, but there's another risk factor involved as well – doctors fear some of the monkeys could be infected with rabies.

So far no rabies cases from monkeys have been documented in the country, but with incidents of monkey bites on the rise, boffins are concerned for the potential health consequences victims may face in the future.

A study conducted at one of the temples and published in the Emerging Infectious Disease journal looked at the viruses monkeys living there were carrying in a bid to identify any zoonotic diseases – conditions that can be passed from animals to humans.

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Researchers found showed many of the monkeys were infected with multiple diseases, some of which could pose a threat to human life if passed from species to species.

How common these specific illnesses are is still unknown.

But another study published in the Journal of Travel Medicine in 2016 found the rabies virus in a dead monkey in Shimla municipality, India, meaning primates are capable of contracting and potentially passing on the disease.

Biologists assumed the monkey had contracted the disease from a stray dog.

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