Between the crime, illegal immigrants, and the anti-Israel demonstrations, it’s a really tough time for New York City residents.Thanks to rats, life is getting tougher. The city Health Department has just warned that in 2023 rat-related sickness soared to the highest level in a single year.
The Health Department is warning of a worrisome increase in the number of infectious leptospirosis cases that come from contact with rat urine.”Not only are rodents unsightly and can traumatize your day, but they’re a real health-related crises,” Mayor Eric Adams said.Last year was a record year for rat disease. From 2001 to 2020, New York City was averaging just three cases of human leptospirosis per year. That jumped to 24 cases last year and there have been six cases so far this year.Officials are worried because it often comes from handling trash bags or bins containing food waste. If not treated it can cause kidney failure, meningitis, liver damage and respiratory distress. In all, six people have died. So the city will start by mounting an education campaign.
Leptospirosis was already a significant problem along the East Coast in 2021, when I covered it for Legal Insurrection.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), humans can become infected with leptospirosis through contact with urine (or other body fluids, except saliva) from infected animals or contact with items contaminated with infected bodily fluids. If not caught early and treated with antibiotics, the disease can be debilitating for several weeks.
The time between a person’s exposure to a contaminated source and becoming sick is 2 days to 4 weeks. Illness usually begins abruptly with fever and other symptoms. Leptospirosis may occur in two phases:
- After the first phase (with fever, chills, headache, muscle aches, vomiting, or diarrhea) the patient may recover for a time but become ill again.
- If a second phase occurs, it is more severe; the person may have kidney or liver failure or meningitis.
The illness lasts from a few days to 3 weeks or longer. Without treatment, recovery may take several months.
Clearly, the leaders of NYC had other priorities than dealing with the ever-expanding rat population since then.
This looks to be a banner year for leptospirosis in the Big Apple. A majority of those infected are men.
There were 24 cases of leptospirosis in the city in 2023, higher than in any prior year, according to the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.However, in the first quarter of this year alone, there have already been six to date.“For comparison, the average number of locally acquired cases during 2021 to 2023 was 15 per year, and 3 cases per year during 2001 to 2020,” health officials said. “This year, 6 cases have been reported as of April 10, 2024.”“Among the 98 locally acquired cases reported from 2001 to 2023, the median case age was 50 years (range 20 to 80 years), usually male (94%) and, reported most often from the Bronx (37), followed by Brooklyn (19), Manhattan (28), Queens (10), and Staten Island (4),” said the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
Meanwhile, what solution are “the experts” offering for rat control in NYC? Rodent birth control.
New York lawmakers are proposing rules to humanely drive down the population of rats and other rodents, eyeing contraception and a ban on glue traps as alternatives to poison or a slow, brutal death.Politicians have long come up with creative ways to battle the rodents, but some lawmakers are now proposing city and statewide measures to do more.In New York City, the idea to distribute rat contraceptives got fresh attention in city government Thursday following the death of an escaped zoo owl, known as Flaco, who was found dead with rat poison in his system.City Council Member Shaun Abreu proposed a city ordinance Thursday that would establish a pilot program for controlling the millions of rats lurking in subway stations and empty lots by using birth control instead of lethal chemicals. Abreu, chair of the Committee on Sanitation and Solid Waste Management, said the contraceptives also are more ethical and humane than other methods.
I hope the proposed birth control approach is successful. I fear that unless the situation changes, it’s just a matter of time before other rat-borne diseases begin appearing in New York City.
Interestingly, the most recent case of bubonic plague reported in the metropolis was in 2002, when a couple from New Mexico (who were infected before arriving) came on a visit to the city.
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