Diseased rat urine kills New Yorker in outbreak of rare illness

[webfact]

Diseased rat urine kills New Yorker in outbreak of rare illness

By Jonathan Allen

REUTERS

 

A rat's head rests as it is constricted in an opening in the bottom of a garbage can in the Brooklyn borough of New York, U.S., October 18, 2016. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson/Files

 

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Diseased rat urine has killed at least one person and sickened two others in New York City in an outbreak of a rarely seen infection, prompting calls from city officials on Wednesday for a renewed effort to cull the rodent population.

 

The outbreak of leptospirosis began in December and all three cases were traced to a single block in the Bronx, New York's northernmost borough. City officials said on Wednesday it was the first ever "cluster" of cases in the city's history.

 

Leptospirosis is a bacterial infection spread by rodents and other animals that can cause fever, vomiting and kidney damage. It can be treated with antibiotics but is sometimes deadly.

 

Two people were diagnosed in December and the third in February, the department said. While one died, the other two have since recovered. The department did not identify the patients, nor say exactly how it thought the three people were exposed to the infected rat urine. Typically, humans get infected through contact with tainted water.

 

One of the people who fell sick lived in an apartment building on the block that city officials said was known for its rat infestations, while the other two were known to frequently visit the block.

 

The mayor's office noted that the building's landlord is accused of 79 building code violations. On Wednesday city workers cleared out garbage, plugged holes and set traps in the infested apartment building.

 

The Red Cross was helping to relocate residents of eight apartments the landlord had illegally created in the basement, the mayor's office said.

 

Letitia James, the city's public advocate, blamed the death on the building's landlord, Ved Parkash, whom she had publicly shamed in 2016 as the fourth-worst landlord in the city in an annual list. Reuters was not immediately able to reach Parkash for comment.

 

The death prompted Ruben Diaz, the Bronx borough president, to lament the city's centuries-old efforts to curtail its persistent rat population.

 

"It is unfathomable to me that in this day and age, in one of the most expensive cities in the world and at our most technologically advanced point as a civilization, the city cannot mitigate the rat problem," Diaz said in a statement.

 

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates there are 100 to 200 cases of leptospirosis each year in the country. New York City only sees one to three cases a year, the city's health department said.

 

(Reporting by Jonathan Allen; Editing by Tom Brown and Lisa Shumaker)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-02-16

[Enoon]

 

As much as 200baht a kilo for rat meat in Thailand.

 

"Very good for Thai eating"

 

 

 

 

Edited February 16, 2017 by Enoon

[soalbundy]

Rat urine is now off the menu

[connda]

Up next:  Bubonic Plague.  Seems the US is slowly slipping back into third world status.  Dams falling apart.  Arcane diseases reappearing.  Yeah, sad.  <shrug>  Don't live there anymore. 

[connda]

32 minutes ago, soalbundy said:

Rat urine is now off the menu

But it's like nam som at the street vendor stalls.  Just sprinkle some over your noodles.  Oh!  Never mind.  They've been pre-sprinkled! 

[connda]

5 hours ago, Enoon said:

 

As much as 200baht a kilo for rat meat in Thailand.

 

"Very good for Thai eating"

 

 

 

 

Reminds me of the "Mystery Meat" satay we use to eat on Magsaysay Road in Olongapo City, PI. 
Who knows what it was.  It tasted fine!  Very good Filapino eating.  lol  

[natway09]

This is not  that rare it is commonplace.

The rats that they eat here are from the corn fields  or rice paddies & not contaminated.

It originates from human excreta so good hygiene & cooking properly & well will hold in check.

3 guys at a popular  entertainment venue here nearly croaked after a rat pissed through the gap in the beer carton..

Nowadays the beer cartons no longer have this gap (in Thailand anyway)

[Guitar God]

That's another reason why I always demand fresh, healthy rat urine. 

[humqdpf]

Leptospirosis, also known as Weil's Disease is not rare, as claimed in this all-knowing, wise-acre article. It is endemic wherever there are large numbers of rats. Humans get it largely from rats or via pets who get it from rats and it is estimated that at least 10million humans are infected per year - sound rare to you?

 

The incidence of Leptospirosis among rats in New York was hardly an outbreak - it was simply that the number of rats in a location got larger and contact between humans and rats became more likely. Wherever there are rats, there is Lepto.

[TerrylSky]

I guess it may be rare to contract this disease - but there are others that rats can give you. I came back to my house from the states one year only to discover that there were rats living in my locked up house - and couldn't get out. I did lots of research about how to effectively clean the house etc., mainly the roof/attic area. Here are some interesting things I learned; 1. They can transmit diseases (I forget the name) some of which are incurable 2. As they run up and down and all around, they are continually pissing as they run ;( 3. They are very smart 4. I was successful in trapping them to some extent with a bucket full of water and a newspaper cover with a trap hole (this worked sometimes) 5. Your basic rat trap may be good for one rat, but the others are smart and won't go near the trap when you set it again. 6. If you catch a rat and take it away and release it, it will find it's way back to you house up to km. 7. The best, immediate, cheapest, cleanest, most humane rat trap that will work in your house within 5 minutes?... a little kitty cat. My rats were bigger than the cat, but they swiftly disappeared within 5 minutes of bringing her home. The other thing to mention is that cobras eat rats; you could find you have 2 animal problems perhaps. I hate F*cking rats.

[jippytum]

Anyone strolling around Pattaya beach road or Chaing Mai  inner city  will see hundreds of rats scampering around the leftover overnight garbage . The authorities seem to take little action .  Both two  legged and four legged  varieties of rat are prevalent on  Pattaya beach road.

[quadperfect]

5 years ago i got leptospirosis in phuket.

I was working on my boat in dry dock in a very expensive marina here.never left the marina in 3 weeks so i must have contracted  it there

Rats in the drain systems. Bare feet all day cuts on my feet and hands ,standing water ,tools left on the ground overnight etc.

I had just flown to the usa for holiday w my parents.

My first day i had a fever.i waited 5 days before going to the hospital thinking it was bad flue. Against my parent wishes . I knew it would be expensive.i had no insurance.

I was in hospital 7 days had a fever  between 102 and 106 for 9 days. Doctors told my parents i was ill enough to die. I got lucky and antibiotics finally worked on day 6.

I needed to rest in bed for a month after.

Most painfull experience ever. 

100,000.00 hospital bill 

I read somewhere there are 30,000 to 40,000 cases in thailand per year.

Its not only rats its certain animals too.

Farmers get hit very easy. 

 

 

 

[USPatriot]

6 hours ago, connda said:

Up next:  Bubonic Plague.  Seems the US is slowly slipping back into third world status.  Dams falling apart.  Arcane diseases reappearing.  Yeah, sad.  <shrug>  Don't live there anymore. 

Guess red state or blue state.

[USPatriot]

It is dry rat Urine that is the problem once it drys it can become airborne then you breath it in.

 

 

[Scott]

It is probably possible to catch from aerosolized urine, but as a general rule, I don't think the dried urine would be breathed into the body.   If you are, for example, washing down a deck or patio with a strong hose, the infected urine could become aerosolized.   If you suspect an area is infected, then probably best to wash it with a disinfectant and not a hard spray.  

 

Animal urine -- and a lot of animals can get and carry the disease -- should be cleaned carefully.   Cuts in the skin are a good entrance point and rats are known to urinate on their pathways quite extensively, so touching it and then touching your mouth, nose, eyes could result in an infection.

 

In Thailand the problem is floods and wading through water where you may have cuts on your legs or feet allowing an entry point.  

 

I had it once, but had virtually no problem from it.   I thought I was coming down with the flu.   It happened during the BKK floods and I had been going through the water which was up to my neck to the main road to get to work.   It was not possible to wear shoes and so I went barefoot.   I had cut my foot on broken glass and I suspect that was the entry point.  

 

The only reason that I went to the doctor was because after several weeks of going to work through that increasingly fetid water, I thought I could come down with most anything.  

[katana]

It's still a danger up in NE Thailand. I remember being up in Isan a few years back and in the villages you sometimes came across public health warning signs about the dangers of contracting Rok Chee Noo (leptospirosis) if you went about bare foot and exhorting you to take care.

 

[ericthai]

12 hours ago, natway09 said:

This is not  that rare it is commonplace.

The rats that they eat here are from the corn fields  or rice paddies & not contaminated.

It originates from human excreta so good hygiene & cooking properly & well will hold in check.

3 guys at a popular  entertainment venue here nearly croaked after a rat pissed through the gap in the beer carton..

Nowadays the beer cartons no longer have this gap (in Thailand anyway)

I had one of our workers die from rat piss. He was working in the rice field rat pissed on him and within a few days he died,