new delhi

Medical researchers in India have urged the government to take prompt action to prevent leptospirosis from becoming a major public health problem following several outbreaks of the disease, which is spread mostly by rats.

Last year, 90 people died in four outbreaks, including one in a medical college hostel in Mysore whose drinking water was contaminated with rat urine. Health officials fear it may be impossible to control the disease unless an effective rat control strategy is found. Little is known about the identity of other potential animal carriers of leptospirosis.

Officials point out that the disease can be treated with antibiotics such as penicillin. But Vulimiri Ramalingaswami, former chief of the Indian Council of Medical Research, says it is essential to develop tools to detect leptospirosis and to launch a surveillance programme. “Otherwise, India would face a major public health problem in the event of [the disease-causing bacteria] developing resistance to penicillin.”

Leptospirosis causes a high temperature and jaundice, and affects the lungs, kidneys and brain. It is caused by a spiral bacterium, Leptospira interrogans. Infected animals shed the bacteria in urine and people coming into contact with contaminated water or soil pick up the infection through the skin and mucous membrane.

Experts told a conference in New Delhi last week that mushrooming slums in cities and the rise in development activity in villages provide ideal environments for the disease to spread.