1 dies from rat-tied bug in Bx. bldg.
A RARE infection spread by rat urine killed one person and sickened two more in the Bronx over the past two months, city officials said Tuesday.
The three people, who all live on a single block in the Bronx’s Concourse neighborhood, were diagnosed with leptospirosis, a bacterial infection spread by rat urine. Two poeple were diagnosed in December, and one this month.
Of the three patients, two have recovered from the infection, officials said.
“This illness can be serious but is treatable with readily available antibiotics,” city Health Department officials said in a statement released Tuesday.
It enters through the body either through cuts or through the eyes, nose or mouth.
“Symptoms can range from a mild illness with fever, headaches, chills, muscle aches, vomiting or diarrhea, to a life-threatening sickness that affects the kidneys and liver,” health officials said.
At 750 Grand Concourse, a Health Department notice warned tenants that a resident of the building was one of the three people diagnosed, CBS 2 reported.
The city routinely finds signs of rat infestation at that building, records show, and an inspection Monday showed “active rat signs.” In November 2015, the public advocate’s office deemed the owner the “City’s Worst Landlord.”