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Leptospirosis cases surge in NYC: What to know about the rat-spread infectious disease - Fox News
Oct 20, 2021 1 min, 16 secs

New York City has reported an increase in human cases of leptospirosis, a bacterial disease that the city reports has been spread by rats.

In a late September advisory, the city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene reported that 14 cases of human leptospirosis had been identified this year, a number it said was more than the total number reported to the city's health department in any previous year.

Three of those infected were reported to be experiencing homelessness and one person was traveling when infected. .

A health official reportedly told Insider that there was a 15th case of the zoonotic disease last week and that the person infected appears to have recovered.

The department's Division of Disease Control Deputy Commissioner Celia Quinn noted that the health department had been conducting inspections and working with property owners to conduct rat remediation. .

The department said New York City has documented a total of 57 cases between 2006 and 2020.

In 2017, a Bronx neighborhood was targeted by the health department after one person died and two others became severely ill from leptospirosis, including a man with the first documented case of testicular swelling associated with the disease.

According to the CDC, leptospirosis infection in humans happens through contact with urine from infected animals or other bodily fluids – with the exception of saliva – or contact with water, soil or food contaminated with the urine of infected animals

People can reduce the risk of acquiring the illness by not swimming in contaminated water or eliminating contact with potentially infected animals

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