Thailand On Alert For Leptospirosis

[Scott]

Geriatrickid: Thanks for the insightful post. I know the big culprits are rats. I've come across this in other countries and it's pretty nasty stuff to catch, and I presume rather hard to diagnose. Where I live, we have a lot of rats nearby. There's a bus repair business which is quite large with a lot of old vehicles making good nesting places and across the soi is a wet market and food stalls. Usually there are two or three dead rats on the road each morning--and that's a lot considering the soi doesn't get much traffic.

I presume a lot of other cities and settled areas have the same problem. Then there's the constant flooding. Guess I'll have to get a pair of rubber boots!

I had a friend from Australia who used to visit Thailand quite often, but finally gave up--to many illnesses and injuries for him. He once stepped off the sidewalk to cross the road when it was flooded. The manhole cover was gone and he went straight down into the sewer system. Ended up in the hospital for 3 weeks--he was injured, just very, very sick from whatever you get from the water here. He had extreme muscle aches, headaches, high fever and pretty much every other symptom imaginable. He never did get a diagnosis of what he had. He finally decided to give up coming to Thailand.

[ThaiFelix]

Is the same thing you can catch from drinking out of a can without cleaning the rim first?

I have heard said that rats p1ss can contaminate the top?

Yes, I have heard that most things are palletised and while in storage they are frequented by rodents who, while they can smell the contents, therefore attract, but cannot contact the product.

Excuse the ? but I always do what the Romans do in Rome. Use a straw. Ever noticed how Thais walk up stairways with their hands just above the rails but not actually touching them. They are ready if they need them but only as a last resort. Why? The sois around me used to get flooded every wet season and the locals used to get alarmed if they saw me caught out without my wellies and wading bare. Dont forget in Bangkok we live on a fine crust over a large delta, ie swamp. Being fluid everthing becomes connected, including sewerage. Add to that the heat and copious amount of urine and faeces (human, dog, cat, rat etc) a big city produces and you have a potent brew.

We are not locals and therefore not conditioned/immuned to these bugs IMHO. Back in Oz I considered myself completely allegy free, but here its a different story. I am a bit of a gardener but must wear gloves here as I get an extremely itchy rash in the web/sensitive parts between the fingers everytime I touch the dirt. I get throat infections a lot. But I notice that over time (4 years) the incidence and severity of both declines.

At the same time I agree with the earlier writer who said be more careful about the cars and motorcycles. Back in Oz I was always amused by the people who where scared of shark attacks but thought nothing of the trip to the beach. More people die from car accidents or bee stings than sharks. And cars dont spit you out after the first bite!

Its all statistics

Thaifelx

[Uros]

Is the same thing you can catch from drinking out of a can without cleaning the rim first?

I have heard said that rats p1ss can contaminate the top?

Fact: Leptospirosis

Leptospirosis is transmitted by the urine of an infected animal, and is contagious as long as it is still moist.

Source: Wikipedia

Don't worry tuky. It's OK as long as the rat piss on the can has dried. So if the can is wet, wipe, if dry, imbibe right away.

[naklang]

If you do catch a serious bacterial or viral based disease like this you are best to take regular amounts of Colloidal Silver. It is the only product that I am aware of that has the ability to disable bacteria, fungus and virus by disabling their respiratory cell membrane - in effect it works by suffocating harmful microbes - without causing any harmful side-effects to the person drinking it. This is in stark contrast to pharmaceutical anti-biotics which try to kill bacteria by poisoning it, and often end up poisoning the patient instead!

I have found a good source of colloidal silver in Thailand here: www.colloidalsilverasia.com

FS

Good for you if you want to turn blue. LOL!

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,317564,00.html

[sylviex]

across the soi is a wet market and food stalls. Usually there are two or three dead rats on the road each morning

Not a very good advertisement for the food stalls .

More seriously, what should one use to wipe tins with ?

Also should be careful opening cans with lids. The lids tend to sink into the contents as you open the can.

[Payboy]

drinking out of a can

[Andrew Hicks]

Rat-piss disease, malaria, dengue, bargirl clap ... all you need is ...

http://www.mmsmiracle.com/

Kills all known germs. Oral Domestos, but perfectly safe. I take it myself. Active ingredient is chlorine dioxide gas. Buy now before they ban it!

Oral Domestos?! You drink the stuff?

My daughter who's a naval doctor told me that on R and R in the Carribean some of the matelots went white water rafting and they all got leptospirosis so it's pretty contagious.

I think they got some other things too but that's another story.

One female among several hundred men, my little daughter in her early twenties had to deal with all that!

[katana]

In the villages in Isaan you sometimes see public health signs warning of the danger of ROK CHEE NOO โรคฉี่หนู (Leptospirosis), so it's present there as well in the puddles and muddy ground etc.

[monspencer]

If you do catch a serious bacterial or viral based disease like this you are best to take regular amounts of Colloidal Silver. It is the only product that I am aware of that has the ability to disable bacteria, fungus and virus by disabling their respiratory cell membrane - in effect it works by suffocating harmful microbes - without causing any harmful side-effects to the person drinking it. This is in stark contrast to pharmaceutical anti-biotics which try to kill bacteria by poisoning it, and often end up poisoning the patient instead!

I have found a good source of colloidal silver in Thailand here: www.colloidalsilverasia.com

FS

Just thought I would check out this possible miracle cure (a bit like the one further up the page), and came across this in Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colloidal_silver with this particular comment: "There is little evidence to support therapeutic claims made for colloidal silver products; the risk to consumers of silver toxicity outweighs the value of trying an unsubstantiated treatment, and bacterial resistance to silver can occur; and efforts should be made to curb the illegal availability of colloidal silver products, which is a significant public health issue." .

[96tehtarp]

In the villages in Isaan you sometimes see public health signs warning of the danger of ROK CHEE NOO โรคฉี่หนู (Leptospirosis), so it's present there as well in the puddles and muddy ground etc.

Thanks,

"Rok Cheee Noo."

I have since found out that this illness is also commonly known among local Thai people, at least among my people, as "Rok Cheee Noo." I have been told that there is even a Thai movie with this very theme... the movie has even a theme song that includes ... "Rok Chee Noo ... Lepto ... Rok Chee Noo... Lepto" etc. etc. etc.

With "Chee" = "Yeooh" The words are sometimes used interchangeably.... When asked about this illness my local Thai people knew it exactly by both the names "Lepto" and "Rok Chee Noo." My people are under the impression that this disease is more prevalent in Issan than elsewhere.

I have re-read the wikipedia article that George posted in his original follow up post and found mention of Doxycycline.

According to the wikipedia article Doxycycline is an antibiotic prescribed as prophylaxis for Leptospirosis. So if I were to find myself accidentally wading knee deep in a flooded soi after a torrential downpour I would definitely consult a clinic and enquire about doing a course of Doxy... I would do so even more if I had open sores on my feet, legs, from perhaps mosquito bites.

A couple of years ago I was prescribed Doxycycline for malarial prophilaxis. This was for a trip within Thailand and Burma. An African friend of mine had wild hallucinations from Fansidar. Another different friend of mine had serious problems caused by Fansidar while working in Tanzinia for the Red Cross. He was actually flown back as a "stretcher case," due to his reaction to the drug.

For my Asian jungle expedition my Dr. recommended Doxycycline for Malaria. (It also kills clamydia.) I only mention Doxycycline because it was specifically mentioned as being useful for this "Rat Piss Disease." Malaria is only an issue on the Burmese/Cambodia border areas AFAIK.

Also...

After reading several of the other follow up posts on this thread I would like to mention one really big difference between how we farangs and Thai people generally handle illnesses.

We, in the west, have been taught to wait until antibiotics are really urgently required. This is sort of a "western" environmentally eco-friendly approach to health care. We are led to believe that this approach is superior and that such an approach is an attempt to reduce the risks of and potential for multi drug resistant bacteria.

Western Dr's and patients are trained to take a wait and see approach to symptoms.

In contrast, Thai people rush to the Dr. at the very onset of the slightest symptom. Whether it be a headache and diarrhoea, or a fever and vomiting, or even simply general malaise... or "Pen Lom" in Thai... they rush to the Dr's office and more often than not they will receive an intravenous injection containing a stiff cocktail of broad spectrum antibiotics. The shot costs about 100 baht.

So here I sit looking at their approach and our approach and a long list of farangs who have been seriously ill, hospitalized and really messed up. It gets really crazy if the sick farang takes the tropical disease back home and gets treated in a western hospital... after misdiagnoses it can often take weeks or even months to get over it.

Personally, I do it the Thai way. And at first onset of symptoms I head straight to my Thai Dr. and get medicated.

My advise to others is, don't wait more than a few hours if you fall ill. Go to a clinic and see a Thai Dr. and get treated. You may end up saving yourselves weeks/months in recovery and in many cases a simple course of tablets, or a single shot in the bum, could have saved the trouble.

Cheers,

[Trevor]

Rat-piss disease, malaria, dengue, bargirl clap ... all you need is ...

http://www.mmsmiracle.com/

Kills all known germs. Oral Domestos, but perfectly safe. I take it myself. Active ingredient is chlorine dioxide gas. Buy now before they ban it!

Oral Domestos?! You drink the stuff?

My daughter who's a naval doctor told me that on R and R in the Carribean some of the matelots went white water rafting and they all got leptospirosis so it's pretty contagious.

I think they got some other things too but that's another story.

One female among several hundred men, my little daughter in her early twenties had to deal with all that!

http://miraclemineral.org/

'Oral Domestos' was meant tongue-in-cheek but is perhaps misleading. The active chemical is chlorine dioxide gas (ClO2), not chlorine. Cl02 actually exists in the body in minute quantities, and kills harmful parasites. I've been taking MMS daily for 4 weeks and never felt better. Knocks out by oxidation all pathogens, cancerous tissue & heavy metals. If you want to protect and improve your health, get started now. It could revolutionise health care worldwide but Big Pharma would go bankrupt, so it's down to individuals to spread the word. Colloidal silver, which I also take, has antibacterial properties too -- but MMS is much stronger and faster-acting.

I actually found it whilst researching a natural cure for malaria/dengue in case I picked them up in Asia. Big Pharma's 'solution' is often worse than the disease ... but then that extends to most drugs, chemo and vaccines too.

You buy MMS as sodium chlorite 28% solution. Start with one drop, activate with lime juice or citric acid at 5X the number of MMS drops, add some fresh fruit juice (not orange) to mask the taste if desired, and drink. I'm up to 7 drops twice a day and the detox is going great. Anyway, read the book -- part one is free.