Leptospirosis (Weil’s Disease)
LEPTOSPIROSIS is notifiable in the UK under the Public Health (Infectious Diseases) Regulations 1988.
Human leptospirosis can be a
logging on to
www.ukpestcontrollers.org and searching the map. Break back traps will often catch the odd juvenile rat; adults will be too long in the tooth to be caught, unless the trap is set perfectly. Live catch traps are helpful if there is a chance of catching a non-target species that has to be released by law. Trapping is not really a suitable way of controlling a rat population which has become established. There are many sonic repellers for rats on the
market - these are fantastic for throwing at rats, and that is about all - none of them work to any degree of satisfaction, so don’t be fooled into buying any. Rats are neophobic, which means they have a fear of new things. Bear this in mind if you use bait safes - it can take up to a month before a rat feels safe enough to enter a box to feed on your bait. A rat infestation will need three things to survive: food, water and somewhere to live safely. The only one of these we can manage is the food source - find out where they are feeding and deny them access to it, by removing it or putting it into rodent-proof containers high up, away from the intruders. Under no circumstances should rubbish, or whatever the rats are hiding in, be moved before full control has been achieved; moving the harbourage will only move the rats to somewhere else, possibly a more sensitive location, such as a kitchen. Rat population in the UK is steadily increasing - composting, decking, bird tables and our throw away society are giving rats a real heads up. Rats carry a deadly disease called Leptospirosis
(Weil’s disease), this can be transferred to humans by contact with rats’ urine or faecal pellets or through cuts and grazes. Leptospirosis can live in water for many days, so always be careful when working in areas where rats have been active. Never smoke, drink or eat while dealing with rats, and always cover cuts and grazes with a suitable waterproof plaster.
The symptoms of Leptospirosis are very similar to having the Flu; with the problems we are having with swine flu at the moment I would suggest you ask your doctor to take a blood test for Leptospirosis if you go down with the flu and are working in areas where rats are present. Don’t forget, you can always ask me for advice on pest control.
Andy Beddoes -
www.abcomplete.co.uk
“If you can get your thumb into a hole, a rat will be able to crawl through it”
difficult infection to describe, as the symptoms can vary dramatically between patients. Some symptoms are extremely common, but only a small number of patients will experience the severe life- threatening illness known as Weil’s disease. The severity of the infection depends on the age and general health of the patient, plus the serovar (strain) of bacteria involved and the number of bacteria that entered the patient's body. The infection is usually systemic
(affecting the whole body) and causes a sudden fever. In mild cases it lasts a few days, following a pattern similar to flu but often in two phases - a period of illness lasting a few days, then a slight recovery, then a second period of illness. In mild cases the second phase lasts a short time and the patient recovers, but in severe types the illness develops and progresses rapidly, leading to organ failure and often death if not treated with intervention and support.
Incubation time
With human leptospirosis this is typically 3 to 21 days, with most patients developing illness after about 3 to 14 days. It does not usually take more than 28 days but, in rare cases, very long incubation periods have been reported. It generally cannot show illness in less than 24 hours unless the volume of bacteria taken into the bloodstream was massively larger than normal.
First stage
Leptospirosis starts suddenly, with a severe headache, redness in the eyes, muscle pains, fatigue and nausea and a fever of 39°C (102°F) or above. There is sometimes a red non-blanching pinprick rash on the skin, similar to that seen in meningitis. Young children can be tired or distressed and may show an aversion to bright light. The severe headache is almost always present and can be incapacitating. Nausea may or may not cause vomiting. Muscle pains can be extreme and are often particularly bad in the calf and back areas - muscles will be sore to move and to touch. A rapid pulse is also common in the first few days.
The skin rash develops in the first one or two days and often the skin is warm and pink just beforehand, with the patient complaining of feeling warm. Rashes can occur anywhere but, in some cases, are confined to local regions of skin such as the front of the legs. Sometimes they will be itchy, but rashes are only seen in about 30% of all cases so the lack of any rash is not too significant. Psychological changes are often seen, with patients feeling depressed, confused, aggressive and sometimes psychotic - with schizophrenia and hallucinations, personality changes and violence. This phase lasts between three and
five days, then the patient (temporarily) recovers. During this phase the bacteria are active in the patient’s bloodstream (so it is sometimes called the septecaemic phase) and so can be detected by lab tests.
Second stage
In many mild cases this doesn’t happen at all but, where the infection is more severe, the patient enters a second phase of illness after a few days of apprent recovery. The initial symptoms and fever return, accompanied with chest and abdominal pain, some renal problems and psychological changes. Increased symptoms of meningitis are often seen with neck stiffness and vomiting but, in most mild cases, the patient will not suffer kidney or liver failure and will eventually recover. There may be a sore throat and dry cough, with a litle blood. With treatment, mild cases will recover within a few weeks.
During this second phase the
bacteria are only really active in the tissues of the patient, and so can be difficult to find in the bloodstream, making lab tests a problem. This second phase is usually called the ‘tissue’ or ‘immune’ phase.
Severe infections
In cases of particularly virulent serovars or patients with poor health, the infection follows a different pattern and the patient develops very rapid and severe symptoms from the start, without much of a remission. Symptoms are the same as for the mild type but more pronounced, and multiple organs are damaged - liver and kidney failure can occur within 10 days, leading to jaundice and death if not treated. Haemorrhages are common (including bleeding from the mouth, eyes and other mucous membranes), plus infection of the heart and significant internal bleeding. Death, when it occurs, is usually due to heart, liver or respiratory failure. Severe infections are often called 'icteric' because of the presence of jaundice, and these are the only cases that can really be called Weil’s disease.
Recovery Patients with mild infections
recover quite quickly, so are usually feeling OK after a few weeks, but they can suffer from fatigue and depression for a while and may be at risk from persistent infection. Patients with the more severe infections can take several weeks to recover, as removing the bacteria is not the problem - they will have caused damage to the body's tissues that take time to heal. Although some patients can die, with medical treatment the chances of survival are good - though patients that have had a severe illness may suffer long- term symptoms due to organ damage that cannot completely heal. Psychological changes (mood swings, depression, psychoses) are common for a few months following recovery.
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