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| Infected rats may continue to excrete the bacteria into the environment continuously or every once in a while for a few months up to several years |
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 Yorkโs northernmost borough. City officials said on Wednesday it was the first ever โclusterโ of cases in the cityโs 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 mayorโs office noted that the buildingโs 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 mayorโs office said.
Letitia James, the cityโs public advocate, blamed the death on the buildingโs 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 cityโs centuries-old efforts to curtail its persistent rat population.
โIt 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,โ 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 cityโs health department said.
