Rat-borne diseases cause crisis in Sarajevo
In just one 24 hour period this week, the country's largest hospital reported a dozen cases of leptospirosis. That follows a steady stream of other infections earlier in the month.
One of the disease's nicknames, rat fever, reflects its key vector of infection. It generally spreads to humans through water or soil contaminated with rodent urine or faeces.
Symptoms can range from headaches and muscle pain to bleeding on the lungs. The acute form of the illness, Weil's disease, can cause jaundice and even kidney failure.
The local authorities in Sarajevo have declared an epidemic, allowing the imposition of emergency measures, including a long overdue clean-up.
Extra municipal workers armed with disinfectant sprays have been deployed to carry out an urban "spring clean" in public areas across the city, while additional rubbish collections are being arranged. Schools have been directed to clean their playgrounds, mow any grass areas and check their basements for rats.
The current all-action approach is a stark contrast to the laissez-faire situation of the past two years, during which there were no pest control measures in Sarajevo at all. Officials blame a botched tender process for extermination and sanitation work, which has allowed the city to go to the rats – and, for that matter, the dogs, as packs of strays are also a common sight around the capital.
Sarajevo Canton Health Minister Enis Hasanovic described the situation as "not a health crisis, but a communal crisis", due to local authorities failing to fulfil essential municipal hygiene requirements.
But a former director of the Sarajevo's University Clinical Centre, Sebija Izetbegović, believes the health situation could deteriorate further. Now a member of Sarajevo Canton Assembly, she points out that "well-fed rats" are currently so numerous in the city that "we can also expect hantavirus".
In one respect at least, Sarajevo has been lucky. Left untreated, leptospirosis can be deadly, with a mortality rate of more than 50% for people who suffer from severe bleeding of the lungs.
But so far none of the cases reported in the current epidemic have been serious.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
16 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Once-eradicated virus now declared 'imminent public health threat' for millions of Americans
New Yorkers are facing an 'imminent public health threat' linked to a virus that parts of the state had eliminated years ago. Rabies is making a comeback in Nassau County - an area on Long Island about 30 miles east of New York City - with new infections among animals becoming 'widespread,' according to county health officials, who warn the city and island's 11 million residents should be on alert. 'The resurgence of rabies in Nassau County, with its high population density and after nearly a decade of absence, represents a serious and evolving public health concern,' said Nassau County Health Commissioner Dr Irina Gelman. There have been 25 cases of rabies in animals over the past 12 months. Four additional suspected cases are currently being tested. Rabies has not yet infected any people in the area. Still, Gelman declared an 'imminent public health threat,' which means the county can allocate more resources to disease mitigation and prevention efforts. The virus, public health officials believe, has migrated from New York City, where funding for rabies infection prevention in animals in the area has dried up. Rabies is estimated to cause 59,000 human deaths annually in over 150 countries, with most cases occurring in Africa and Asia. According to the World Health Organization, this number is likely a gross underestimate. Human infections are rare in the US, with fewer than 10 cases reported annually, largely due to widespread animal vaccinations, effective public health measures, and the availability of post-exposure care that can save patients. Without prompt treatment, though, nearly 100 percent of patients infected with the virus die. To avoid infection, health officials advise against feeding or touching wild animals, stray cats, or dogs. Additionally, they recommend keeping pets up-to-date on rabies vaccinations and keeping puppies too young to receive the vaccine indoors, only allowing them outside if someone is supervising them. They also told residents to spread the word about avoiding wild animals, especially those acting abnormally. If a wild animal gets onto your property, they advise people to bring pets and young children inside until the animal is removed and contact an animal control expert to safely remove it. And they said not to touch dead or dying animals. If they need to be moved, use a shovel to double-bag them and leave them in an outdoor garbage bin. Rabies can spread to humans or pets through bites, scratches, or contact with saliva from an infected animal, particularly when it comes into contact with open wounds, eyes, nose, or mouth. The virus is most commonly seen in raccoons, skunks, and foxes, but three feral cats that traveled from Queens in New York City to Long Island were found to harbor the virus. Nassau County has had successful eradication of rabies since 2016, prior to this most recent outbreak. Gilman said: 'There may be more cases out in the wild — because we've confirmed 25, it's indicative of wider spread. 'First of all, [there's concern in] the sheer volume of cases that we have seen in one year, but also the rate of spread and also, the fact that it is feral domesticated animals.' The county will continue its rabies mitigation efforts through the fall, anticipating an increase in animal cases and concerns about potential human transmission. 'When someone sees a cat in their backyard, it's not necessarily as much of a reaction as seeing a wild animal,' Gelman added, warning that children may also unknowingly play with a rabid cat. The health department plans to use a rabies vaccine bait drop along the border with Queens and throughout the county. It involves distributing edible baits containing the rabies vaccine, often by air or vehicle, in residential areas where rabies is prevalent. 'The time for prevention is now,' Gelman said. 'One ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. That's exactly what we're trying to accomplish here.'
BreakingNews.ie
8 hours ago
- BreakingNews.ie
Urgent need for mandatory registration of private drinking water supplies
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has said there is an urgent need for mandatory registration of private drinking water supplies. It is raising concerns that many private supplies are not registered, despite serving schools, nursing homes, sports clubs and self-catering accommodation. Advertisement Noel Byrne, the EPA's programme manager of the drinking water and wastewater enforcement team, told Newstalk radio that everyone has a right to safe drinking water, but supplies that are not registered are not monitored. "Many of these businesses with wells are not registered with local authorities and therefore, they're not monitored by local authorities and that's creating a risk to public health, so today the EPA are calling for the mandatory registration of businesses that supply water to the public from their own well, really to make sure that the proper checks are completed by the local authorities on these supply and that removes the public health risks," Mr Byrne said. According to the EPA, over 370 private group schemes supply drinking water to 193,000 people across rural communities in Ireland, not including the businesses and public facilities that supply water from their own wells, called small private supplies. The agency said that almost 1,700 small private supplies are registered with local authorities, but many more are not. Advertisement The EPA said that as a result, the total number of small private supplies in the country remains unknown. Meanwhile, 24 private groups failed to meet E. coli standards in 2024, up from 13 in 2022, the agency said. Six schemes had repeat failures over two consecutive years, five of which are on long-term boil water notices. Meeting E. coli standards is a minimum requirement in the provision of safe drinking water, and failures were recorded in 51 small private supplies that were monitored by local authorities.
Daily Mail
19 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Map reveals where you are most at risk of getting sexually transmitted diseases... where does YOUR state rank?
Americans living in the south could be most at risk of sexually transmitted diseases, a new study reveals. Louisiana had the country's highest rates of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), which include chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis and HIV. It suffered 1,200 STD cases per 100,000 residents, making it the state most stricken by diseases that spread through sex, skin-to-skin contact and from mother to child during birth. In particular, Louisiana had the highest rate of chlamydia, America's most common STD that affects 1.6million adults every year. Mississippi and Alaska followed close behind with 1,084 and 1,067 STD cases per 100,000 people, respectively. Alaska also recorded the most instances of gonorrhea, which experts have previously blamed on weak public health infrastructure and high rates of substance abuse. It's the same state where a woman died earlier this year of disseminated gonococcal infection (DGI), which occurs when the sexually transmitted infection gonorrhea invades the bloodstream and travels to vital organs. Meanwhile, Georgia, which had the fourth-highest overall STD rate, recorded the most HIV cases with 25.5 per 100,000. South Dakota rounded out the top five, recording the highest rate of syphilis infections. On the other hand, states in New England had the lowest STD rates, with Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine falling to the bottom of the list. The rankings, provided by a new study from Invigor Medical, used the latest CDC data - from 2023 - to calculate STD rates for all 50 states. The researchers found many states ranking in the top 10 have limited access to sexual health clinics and emphasize abstinence education as a primary method to prevent pregnancy and STDs, which could be drivers behind their higher rates. And many states do not mandate sex education in schools, meaning millions of students miss out on potentially life-saving information. States like Alaska and South Dakota also have higher numbers of outbreaks among Indigenous populations, which are more likely to have limited access to care. People in the New England region, on the other hand, typically have higher household incomes and rates of insurance, making them better able to access care and sexual education. The report also found women in the US are 10 percent more likely than men to be diagnosed with an STD, with a rate of 902 cases per 100,000 compared to 819. This could be because women are screened more often during routine reproductive health visits, while cases in men may go undiagnosed. The vagina also has a moist, thin lining that is easily penetrable, making it prone to infections. Louisiana had the country's highest rate of chlamydia with 792 cases per 100,000 residents. This added up to 36,242 diagnoses in 2023. Nationwide, chlamydia affects 1.6million Americans every year. Common symptoms of chlamydia include abnormal or foul-smelling vaginal discharge, pelvic pain, abdominal tenderness, pain during intercourse, irregular bleeding, and fever. However, less than half of infections show symptoms, and many are asymptomatic. Mississippi followed close behind overall and had the second-highest rate of chlamydia, with 701 cases per 100,000. Alaska recorded 1,067 STDs per 100,000 people in 2023 and had the highest rate of gonorrhea at 311 cases per 100,000. This adds up to about 2,280. Untreated gonorrhea can lead to serious health issues, including pelvic inflammatory disease and infertility. And while the infection can usually be easily treated, some strains are resistant to commonly used antibiotics - making them harder to clear. Earlier this year in Alaska, an unnamed woman in her 50s died from disseminated gonococcal infection (DGI) after contracting gonorrhea. This causes her to go into sepsis and heart failure. In DGI, gonorrhea infections travel to the bloodstream and infect organs throughout the body due to the infection going untreated. It's thought to occur in just 0.5 percent of gonorrhea cases. She is one of eight Alaskans to be identified with DGI since January of this year, the state health department said. The above chart from Invigor Medical shows the rate of STDs in the US by age group and sex Georgia, which had the fourth-highest rate of STDs overall, topped the list for HIV infections. It had an HIV rate of 25.5 per 100,000, totaling 2,359 cases. Nationwide, the HIV rate is 14 cases per 100,000 people. HIV, which stands for human immunodeficiency virus, attacks the body's immune system and leaves it unable to fight off foreign invaders. Left untreated, it can lead to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Georgia's high rate could be from recent HIV outbreaks in the Atlanta area. South Dakota rounded out the top five with an overall STD rate of 1,015 per 100,000. It also had the highest rate of syphilis at 223 per 100,000 or roughly 2,000 cases. Syphilis among all ages is on the rise nationwide, increasing nearly 80 percent over the past five years, and the surge is worrying public health officials, as the disease can advance to damage the brain, nerves, eyes, and heart if it goes untreated. Symptoms begin with small open sores on the genitals, mouth, or rectum, as well as enlarged lymph nodes. In the second stage, a skin rash develops, as well as genitals sores, fever, muscle and joint pain, vision changes, and loss of appetite. When the infection advances further, it can inflame and damage heart valves and slowly degrade the brain, causing personality changes, memory loss, difficulty making decisions, and strokes. On the other end of the spectrum, Vermont recorded the fewest STD cases with a rate of 241 per 100,000. Schools in the state have more robust sexual health education programs than in other areas like the south. Its largest demographic is also over 60, a group historically less affected by STDs.
