Rare Rat-Related Disease Kills a Bronx Victim, the City Says

Image: Three cases of a rare disease trasmitted through rat urine have been reported in the Bronx, officials said. Credit Michael Appleton for The New York Times

nytimes.com - February 14th 2017 - Christopher Mele

New York City is investigating three recent cases — one of them fatal — of a rare disease transmitted through rat urine that have occurred in the Grand Concourse neighborhood of the Bronx, according to the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

This is the first time a cluster of the cases of the disease, leptospirosis, has been identified, according to an alert issued by the department on Tuesday. From 2006 to 2016, 26 cases were reported in the city; the Bronx had the highest number, eight.

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