NEW YORK – A year after New York City appointed a czar for its war on rats, health officials are seeing an increase in cases of a rare disease linked to rat urine.
Sanitation workers, who collect the city’s trash and are frequently exposed to rats, say workers are disparately represented in cases of leptospirosis, the disease caused by exposure to rat urine.
One union steward experienced such severe symptoms of the illness that he was told his last rites before recovering, said Harry Nespoli, president of the Uniformed Sanitationmen’s Association, which represents Sanitation Department workers. And when the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene issued a warning last week about the upward trend in cases, another worker was hospitalized with symptoms, it said. declared.
“The streets seem cleaner, but the rats are still there,” Nespoli told USA TODAY. “Look, they were here before us.”
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In 2023, New York City recorded 24 cases of illness, the highest number of any reported year, wrote Dr. Celia Quinn, New York City’s deputy health commissioner for disease control. , in the notice of the Ministry of Health of April 12. This year, there had already been six cases as of April 10.
Between 2001 and 2023, New York recorded 98 cases — and about a quarter of them occurred in 2023 alone, according to Department of Health figures. Some people suffered acute kidney and liver failure and others had severe breathing problems. Six people have died in just over two decades.
Almost all cases were in men and the median age of infection was 50 years. The Bronx had the most cases, with 37, followed by 28 in Manhattan, 19 in Brooklyn, 10 in Queens and four on Staten Island.
In April 2023, Mayor Eric Adams appointed the city’s first “rat czar,” whose job it is to reduce the pest population and promote cleaner streets and new approaches to trash collection. The City Council also considered ordinances that could reduce the rat population through a birth control program.
In 2024, six garbage collectors contracted the disease, according to Nespoli of the garbage collectors’ union. Five of the 24 cases recorded the previous year occurred among sanitation workers, he added.
Nespoli said exposure to the disease poses an occupational hazard for waste collection workers. This can happen when workers’ gloves are wet, making them softer and allowing rat urine to penetrate more easily, he explained. He advised workers to change gloves frequently.
No sanitation workers have died from the disease, Nespoli added. But the prospect of such a scenario has prompted the state to pass a union-backed bill that would provide benefits to employees and their families if they become disabled or die from the disease.
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In an email, Vincent Gragnani, a spokesman for the city’s sanitation department, said the department frequently communicates with workers about how to prevent leptospirosis. Workers are encouraged to wear gloves to avoid contact with rat urine, among other hazards. He said the ministry also reminds workers to avoid touching their faces with work gloves.
As the city moves more trash into containers, he said, sanitation workers won’t have as much direct contact with trash and trash bags. Over the past year, placing waste in containers also reduced the number of reported rat sightings to 311, including 6.3% citywide and 14.3% in waste reduction zones. rats, he added. By fall, about 70 percent of all waste in the city is expected to be placed in containers, which city officials say will further reduce rat numbers.
The health department said in an email that it has worked with the Sanitation Department’s Occupational Health Medical Division to educate municipal workers about occupational hazards and safety protocols, including through personal protective equipment. The department held a virtual event Wednesday to educate workers about leptospirosis and other health risks.
“We will continue to take steps to ensure municipal employees are informed of best practices,” the email said.
In its advisory last week, the Health Ministry said leptospirosis is spread through bacteria found in the urine of infected animals. It is transmitted by direct contact with contaminated water, soil or food that enters the body through open wounds or mucous membranes. New York City’s specific bacteria is associated with the Norwegian rat, the large brown breed historically found scurrying through the city’s trash cans, streets, subways, basements and sewage. Transmission of the disease between people is rare. Health officials have said people are more likely to become ill from contact with areas where infected rats have urinated, especially when handling trash bags or trash cans.
Symptoms of leptospirosis
The incubation period for the disease is usually five to 14 days, but it can become active after two days or take up to a month to appear. Symptoms vary greatly among people, but include fever, headache, diarrhea, jaundice and rash, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But without treatment, the disease can lead to kidney failure, meningitis, liver damage and respiratory distress.
In their advisory, city health officials noted that leptospira bacteria typically dies in freezing weather or dry heat. However, excessive rain and abnormally high temperatures associated with climate change are expanding its survival options, which may partly explain how the bacteria thrived in New York. Officials cited warmer and wetter climates in June and October 2023, compared to previous years, when 10 of the year’s 24 cases occurred.
Health officials urged local providers to report cases as quickly as possible.
The drive to control rat populations received renewed attention earlier this year after the death of the famous owl “Flaco,” which escaped from the Central Park Zoo and lived in New York. In February, Flaco died after crashing into a Manhattan building. Veterinary pathologists at the Bronx Zoo discovered high levels of rat poison in his system, which would have impaired his ability to fly.