At least 21 people in Sarajevo have contracted ‘rat fever’. Due to unhygienic conditions in the Bosnian capital, countless rodents roam the streets spreading the disease. Health authorities are speaking of an epidemic.
Residents of Sarajevo deal daily with rats and dead rodents in the streets. Due to a lack of facilities and cleaners, a highly contagious disease is now circulating. It concerns leptospirosis, also known as rat fever.
Meanwhile, 21 cases of leptospirosis are known, writes The Sarajevo Times based on the Clinical Center of the University of Sarajevo. Also, at least eighteen patients are being examined for the disease. The largest hospital in the city reported twelve infections in 24 hours.
The disease is spread through water or soil contaminated by urine or excrement from rodents. The symptoms can vary from headaches and muscle pain to pulmonary hemorrhages. With pulmonary hemorrhage, the chance of death is high. The acute form of the disease, Weil’s disease, can cause jaundice and even kidney failure.
Health authorities have declared rat fever an epidemic. As a result, emergency measures, including a cleaning, can be announced.
That cleaning is badly needed, because images show an abundance of rodents. They swim, among other things, in the river Miljacka, which flows through the center of the city.
Spring cleaning and checks in schools
To reduce the epidemic, the municipality has deployed extra staff for a “spring cleaning”. They are armed with disinfecting sprays that should provide the city’s public spaces with a fresher appearance.
Garbage is also collected more often. Schools have been instructed to clean their playgrounds, mow grass and check their basements for rats.
The government of Bosnia and Herzegovina warns on its site about leptospirosis. The authorities emphasize that there are no restrictive measures such as with corona. But they do warn to avoid contact with mud and water. “Wear protective clothing, wash your hands and don’t leave your garbage outside.”
The current approach contrasts sharply with the situation of the past two years, writes BBC News. Then there was no pest control at all and little to nothing was done about the nuisance caused by rats, among other things.
The Bosnian Minister of Public Health does not call the situation a health crisis, but a “municipal crisis”. According to him, local authorities do not comply with the hygiene regulations.
The Clinical Center of the University of Sarajevo emphasizes that a health crisis is looming. According to a former director of the center, the city can also expect the hantavirus if the authorities do not take more measures. That is also a virus carried by rats and mice that can cause fever and liver problems in humans, among other things.