Jakarta flood victims contract disease spread by rats
Pastor Dale Morgan
Jakarta flood victims contract disease spread by rats*
JAKARTA, Feb 9 (AFP) Feb 09, 2007
Two men in Jakarta have been diagnosed with a disease spread by rats
after they came into contact with contaminated flood waters, and one has
suffered brain damage, reports said Friday.
Leptospirosis, also known as Weil's disease, is a bacterial disease that
is usually caught from contact with water contaminated by urine from
infected rats.
Health officials have warned of the risk of the disease from the
floodwaters that have inundated Jakarta for the past week.
Sarnata, 61, was admitted to hospital on Thursday morning in the acute
stage of leptospirosis. His kidneys were damaged and he was losing
consciousness because part of his brain had been damaged, the official
Antara news agency said.
"Sarnata has entered the third stage of the disease, he cannot speak
because his brain is damaged," said Nazir, a doctor at Jakarta Tarakan
hospital.
"There are three stages of leptospirosis, with early stages showing high
fever, muscle pains, red eyes ... the worst will damage the brain and
can be irreversible," he said.
Leptospirosis, which causes high fever and painful joints, is treated
with antibiotics. It is rarely fatal, although kidney or liver failure
or meningitis can result.
"The risk of acquiring leptospirosis can be greatly reduced by not
swimming or wading in water that might be contaminated with animal
urine," according to the US Centres for Disease Control.
But many in the city have little option but to wade through the flood
waters while children also regularly swim in them.
The floods in Jakarta, the worst in at least five years, have claimed 50
lives and displaced about 500,000 people in the capital and surrounding
towns, according to the national disaster crisis centre.
"Fifty people died in Jakarta, Bekasi, Karawang and Tangerang," Linda,
an official at the centre, told AFP.
Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar has blamed the floods on excessive
construction on natural drainage areas, but city governor Sutiyoso said
it was a "cyclical natural phenomenon."