Oh, it’s a rat!
New York City officials have issued a stark warning about an alarming rise in diseases spread through rat urine after the number of infections hit a record high in 2023.
Leptospirosis — spread by bacteria in the urine of infected Norway rats — may cause Officials said symptoms include fever, chills, headache, muscle pain, vomiting, diarrhea, kidney or liver failure, and meningitis.
The Norway rat, also known as the brown rat, makes up the majority of the borough’s rodent population.
Quinn said 24 cases were reported in the city last year, an alarming record in the Big Apple, even though winter weather typically prevents the spread of infections. As of 2024, six cases of infection have already been reported.
The bacterium can “survive for weeks in warm, humid environments,” said New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Deputy Commissioner Celia Quinn, who raised alarm in 2016. memo last Friday.
“Infection is caused by infectious urine or urine-contaminated water, soil,
“It can enter the body through open wounds and mucous membranes,” the memo warns, which typically happens when New Yorkers handle trash cans.
More than a third of the 98 cases reported in the city from 2001 to 2023 were in the Bronx, and the majority of victims were men, according to the report.
The various illnesses associated with the disease usually develop within five to 14 days after infection, and recovery can take “several months,” according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Quinn said leptospirosis thrives in “excessive rain and unseasonably high temperatures,” noting that factors “related to climate change” led to a spike in cases last June and October.
Approximately 3 million rats live in the Big Apple. the study By a pest company discovered last year. This represents about one-third of the city’s population.
The news was a somber conclusion to the city’s plan proposed Thursday to introduce rat contraception in the city to control the burgeoning population.
