H5N1

US: Why are New York’s rats thriving? Thank Sandy

Via The Globe and Mail, a New York Times report: Why are New York’s rats thriving? Thank Sandy. And if it's this bad in New York, imagine what Sandy must have done for rats (and leptospirosis) in Haiti and Cuba. Excerpt:

Shortly after the storm, exterminators were inundated with calls from waterfront areas such as Dumbo, Brooklyn Heights and Lower Manhattan. And once the rats were resettled, they grew accustomed to their surroundings, feasting on the garbage created by the hurricane as well as by the normal churn of the winter holidays. 

“They became so bad I couldn’t even take all the jobs,” said Jonathan Vargas, a partner with All Day Exterminating, who estimated that his rat complaint calls doubled after Hurricane Sandy. 

Timothy Wong, a managing partner with M&M Environmental, a pest control company on the Lower East Side, said rat complaints began to soar after the hurricane and have not let up yet, partly because the wintry weather is driving the rodents indoors.

 “The subway, the sewer, a lot got disrupted,” said Mr. Wong, who said complaints about rats were about as bad as he has seen in 10 years. 

“There’s so much garbage out in the streets these days. Renovations because of the flood. Christmas trees. These things make it worse. For them, it’s Restaurant Week.”

Cuba: Plagues and illnesses in Old Havana

Via Hablemos Press: Habana Vieja: Plagas y enfermedades. [Old Havana: Plagues and illnesses] After describing several locations now being fumigated because of rat and cockroach infestation, the report goes on (in my translation):

En la Panera El Cristo, ubicada en la Habana Vieja, una trabajadora se enfermó gravemente de Leptospirosis, enfermedad producida por el orine de las ratas al consumir un pastel. Inmediatamente  los trabajadores fueron vacunados y el local cerrado. 

In El Cristo Bakery in Old Havana, a worker fell gravely ill with leptospirosis, a disease carried in rat urine, after she ate a cake. Workers were immediately vaccinated and the store was closed.

La Habana, sufre una ola  de plagas y enfermedades nunca vistas; la población está en estado de alerta por temor a enfermarse. 

Havana is suffering a wave of plagues and illnesses never before seen. The people are in a state of alert out of fear of falling sick.

En las puertas de los establecimientos comerciales y escuelas un trabajador vierte cloro en las manos de los visitantes para desinfectarlas de posibles males. 

In the doorways of commercial establishments and schools, a worker puts chlorine in visitors' hands to disinfect them of possible diseases.

En los consejos Plaza Vieja y Catedral hay alarma por el creciente número de casos de Cólera. Hasta el momento, hay 18 casos reportados en menos de una semana, dijo una fuente del Ministerio de Salud Publica. 

In the Plaza Vieja and Catedral local councils there is alarm about the growing number of cholera cases. A source in the Ministry of Public Health says 18 cases have been reported in less than a week.

El gobierno prefiere guardar silencio por temor a crear pánico en el turismo; estas zonas  del casco histórico de la ciudad son de las de mayor demanda.

The government prefers to keep quiet, fearing to create panic among the tourists; these historic neighbourhoods are those in most demand.

Indonesia: Jakarta under water

Via The New York Times: Torrential Rains Paralyze Jakarta. Excerpt:

Torrential rains caused flooding that paralyzed much of the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, on Thursday, resulting in the deaths of at least four people and forcing the evacuations of tens of thousands of others. 

Parts of the capital were under at least six feet of water, and even the presidential palace was not spared as waters rushed into the complex. In the central business district, water levels rose to at least 18 inches. Cars, buses and motorcycles were stranded in the streets, and soldiers in rubber boats rescued people trapped in their homes. 

“This is the worst I’ve ever seen it,” said Yudi Sukarno, 40, who has lived in the Bendungan Hilir neighborhood since he was a child. “There’s all this asphalt and concrete, so the water doesn’t have anywhere to go.” 

Local news broadcasts showed images of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono standing shin-deep in water that had flooded into the presidential palace. 

“It’s O.K. if the palace is flooded,” Mr. Yudhoyono told reporters. “What is important is that the people are protected.” 

Thirteen rivers run through Jakarta, but poor drainage caused by garbage and the depletion of wells in a city already at or below sea level has intensified the impact of the flooding. The problems have recently been exacerbated by deforestation outside the city, which allows rainwater to flood in. 

In central Jakarta on Thursday, muddy torrents filled major thoroughfares as evacuees tramped through waist-deep water in one neighborhood. A group of men balanced an air mattress with a sick elderly woman on their shoulders in an effort to get her to a hospital. 

Flood walls in one neighborhood collapsed, inundating neighborhoods in east Jakarta. Residents in one area there, Kampung Melayu, were forced to the second levels of their homes, and some took refuge on a highway overpass. Others gathered in mosques, which were filled with people escaping the floods, according to volunteers. 

The Indonesian Meteorological Agency said heavy rains were expected in the Jakarta region for the next three days. 

“Because of the rain’s intensity, we’ve declared an emergency situation from now until Jan. 27,” Jokowi Widodo, the governor of Jakarta, told reporters.

Here's a report in the Friday Jakarta Post, which says the death toll is actually 14. And here's another from the Jakarta Globe. As bad as this is, it's the aftermath I worry about: dengue, typhoid, malaria, diarrhea, leptospirosis, and every other disease that follows flooding.

Philippines: 400,000 need food help after Typhoon Bopha/Pablo

Via ReliefWeb, an update from OCHA: Typhoon Bopha Situation Report No. 15 (as of 15 January 2013). Click through to download the PDF of the full report. The highlights, including the jaw-dropping item I've bolded:

· Female single-headed households and the elderly should be prioritised for immediate shelter assistance. 

· Cash-for-work projects are significant to pave way for early recovery and livelihood support. 

· 400,000 people need food assistance for relief and recovery for a period of six months. 

· Communications with affected communities is important in understanding and improving humanitarian response.

And when you download the full report, you'll find that those 400,000 are just the ones most critically affected. A million people have been receiving food assistance since the typhoon hit five weeks ago.

As for health, OCHA says "Reports of suspected measles, acute watery diarrhea, and suspected leptospirosis continue to be verified." But they're hard to confirm because "Telecommunications and accessibility issues continue to hamper disease surveillance."

The Bopha Action Plan to pay for recovery has just $22.4 million out of the $65 million needed altogether.

Dominican Republic: 205 died of leptospirosis, dengue and cholera in 2012

Via Prensa Latina: Mueren 205 personas en Dominicana por leptospirosis, dengue y cólera. [205 die in Dominican Republic from leptospirosis, dengue and cholera] Excerpt, with my translation:

La leptospirosis, el dengue, y el cólera provocaron la muerte de 205 personas en República Dominicana durante 2012, de acuerdo con datos oficiales divulgados hoy. 

Leptospirosis, dengue and cholera caused the deaths of 205 persons in the Dominican Republic in 2012, according to official data released today.

El boletín del Ministerio de Salud Pública correspondiente a la semana epidemiológica 52 precisa que fallecieron por esas enfermedades 72, 68 y 65 seres humanos, respectivamente. 

The bulletin of the Ministry of Public Health for epidemiological week 52 says that 72, 68, and 65 human beings died of these diseases, respectively.

Paralelamente, agrega el reporte, la cifra total de afectados se situó en 18 mil 184, divididos en mil 163 de leptospirosis, nueve mil 191 de dengue y siete mil 830 de cólera.

The report adds that the total of those affected was 18,184, divided in 1,163 with leptospirosis, 9,191 with dengue, and 7,830 with cholera.

Fiji: Updates on Evan flooding and infrastructure

The government of Fiji has posted UPDATES REGARDING INFRASTRUCTURES AND FLOOD as of 9:30 a.m. December 18 local time. After listing a number of roads and bridges still under water, the update continues:

A FLOOD WARNING REMAINS IN FORCE FOR MAINIMALA, WAINIBUKA AND WAIDINA RIVER, REWA RIVER, LOW LYING AREAS OF NAUSORI AND REWA DELTA. 

A FLOOD REMAINS IN FORCE FOR ALL LOW LYING AREAS OF NAVUA AND THE AREAS ADJACENT TO THE WHOLE OF NAVUA RIVER 

SITUATION 

SEVERE TROPICAL CYCLONE EVAN [944HPA] WAS LOCATED NEAR 19.0S 177.2E AT 1:30 AM TODAY. TC EVAN IS MOVING SOUTHWEST AT 18 KM/HR. ASSOCIATED ACTIVE RAIN BANDS CONTINUE TO AFFECT VITI LEVU. 

REWA RIVER 

3.3m WHICH 0.3m BELOW CRITICAL LEVEL. WATER LEVEL IS STILL RISING. 

NAVUA RIVER: 

3.5m WHICH IS 1.0 ABOVE CRITICAL LEVEL. RIVER LEVEL IS STILL RISING. 

WAINIBUKA RIVER: 

15.2m WHICH IS 7.2m ABOVE CRITICAL LEVEL. WATER IS STILL RISING. 

WAIDINA RIVER: 

5.5m WHICH IS 0.5m ABOVE CRITICAL LEVEL. WATER IS STILL RISING. 

NEXT HIGH TIDE:10.30am HEIGHT: 1.6m 

NEXT LOW TIDE: 4.11am Height 0.2m

Now Fiji will have to start to worry about water security and waterborne diseases like leptospirosis, diarrhea, and even cholera.

Palau, Philippines brace for Typhoon Bopha

Via Australia Network News: Palau, Philippines brace for Typhoon Bopha. 

Parts of the island nation of Palau in the western Pacific are being affected by a powerful typhoon. 

The National Weather Service in Guam says Super Typhoon Bopha is carrying winds of up to 250 kilometres an hour. 

Meteorologist Derek Williams says Bopha has the potential to be as devastating as Cylone Tracy which hit the northern Australian city of Darwin in 1974, killing 71 people. 

Mr Williams says although Palau's main island has been spared a direct hit, southern outer islands have not been so fortunate and can expect to be inundated over the coming hours. 

"Surf, 25 feet or greater... some of those islands are not even 10 feet in height so there's going to be some overwash and pretty high inundation of those smaller islands," Mr Williams told Radio Australia. 

Palau is a small Pacific nation of around 21,000 people located to the east of the southern Philippines. 

Typhoons rarely hit Palau, which is outside the main typhoon zone. 

On high alert 

Parts of the central and southeastern Philippines have also been placed on typhoon alert. 

Super Typhoon Bopha, known locally as Pablo, is now expected to make landfall over the Philippines on Tuesday. 

Thousands of people along the country's eastern border will be evacuated to safer ground in preparation for the typhoon. 

Relief food and medicines have been pre-positioned and evacuation centres on standby. 

Meteorologists say the typhoon will bring heavy rains and strong winds reaching over 200 kilometres an hour, over an area of 700 kilometres. 

The typhoon is stronger than another weather disturbance which devastated the southern Mindanao island and killed more than 1,200 people at about the same time last year.

Apart from the immediate deaths and injuries, we can also expect serious public health consequences after the typhoon: waterborne diseases like leptospirosis, dengue, malaria, diarrhea, and cholera—not to mention the social disruption inflicted on those who lose their homes and livelihoods.

Borneo: Leptospirosis claims eight lives this year

Via the Borneo Post Online: Leptospirosis claims eight lives this year. Excerpt:

SIBU: Leptospirosis has claimed eight lives in the state as of Nov 10 this, with five outbreaks reported. 

According to statistics from the state Health Department, 249 cases were recorded, 79 of them occurred in Kuching. 

There were 54 cases in Kapit, 24 in Sri Aman and 21 in Limbang. 

State Health director Datu Dr Zulkifli Jantan warned that an upward surge in the number of Leptospirosis cases was probable in the event of widespread flooding. 

“Hence, parents must ensure that their children do not play near drains or wade in floodwater as the water may be contaminated with urine of rats,” he said. 

“Leptospirosis can be acquired by wading in floodwaters contaminated with the urine of rats or animals such as pigs, cows, dogs, or any wild animals infected by Leptospira bacteria. 

“People who have open or small wounds are of high risk of contracting the disease when in contact with flood water. 

“It is highly recommended that they use protective gears such as boots.”

India: After dengue, it could be leptospirosis

Via The New Indian Express, a report from Bangalore: After dengue, it could be Leptospirosis. 

Even as the city is battling dengue, a suspected case of leptospirosis has been reported at a private hospital in the city. 

According to the doctors, the patient contracted the bacterial disease in Andhra Pradesh and came to Bangalore for treatment. 

A battery of tests is being conducted to confirm whether it is a case of leptospirosis. The piles of garbage on Bangalore streets have been attracting rats, which are notorious carriers of leptospirosis and other diseases. 

Fears of an outbreak have mounted with rain, since leptospirosis bacteria can spread through rainwater contaminated with animal excreta. 

According to Dr Chinnadurai, critical care medicine consultant at a private hospital, “The bacteria enters the human body through a wound or consumption of the infected water. The symptoms are similar to that of malaria —  the patient first contracts fever, then develops jaundice and a type of meningitis that alters the mental behaviour of the patient.” Person-to-person transmission is rare.

Sandy's aftermath: Leptospirosis, typhus, and plague?

Via Mother Nature Network: Has Hurricane Sandy forced diseased rats out of the subway? Excerpt:

As New Yorkers woke up to massive power outages, burning homes, the closure of major transportation arteries, downed trees, streets awash with water and an utterly crippled public transit system, there’s still more to worry about.   

New York City’s infamous rodent population.   

Although nobody has taken an exact count, it’s generally estimated that there are more rats than inhabitants (8.3 million) in the city that never sleeps, with some estimates going as high as 32 million. 

Horror stories of colossal, teeming rat populations residing deep in the belly of the subway system is a bit of a myth, but many of the tunnels and stations are still pretty packed with rats, earning the city the distinction of Worst Rat City in the World. And with Hurricane Sandy’s deposit of massive amounts of water into the subterranean system, many of the rodents may be flooded out of their underground abodes.   

All five subway tubes beneath the East River between Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn and the Steinway tube between Midtown and Queens are filled with water, water that needs to be pumped since it won’t recede on its own. Where will the rats go? 

Rick Ostfeld of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Milbrook, N.Y., told the Huffington Post, "Rats are incredibly good swimmers, and they can climb." He adds that they will escape the floods and head for safer ground, such as apartments and other buildings by humans.   

According to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service:   

•Rats can climb brick walls, trees, and telephone poles, and walk across telephone lines. 

•Rats can safely fall from a height of 50 feet. 

•Rats can jump three feet in the air from a flat surface and leap more than four feet horizontally. 

•Some species of rats can swim more than a mile in open water, and can tread water for up to three days. 

•Some species of rats can travel through sewer pipes and dive through water plumbing traps.

Ostfeld notes that the result of a deluge of displaced rats looking for dry shelter could result a rise in infectious diseases carried by urban rats, including leptospirosis, hantavirus, typhus, salmonella and even the plague.

The other day I saw a rat on the edge of our local park; I wasn't worried, because the park also has a family of barred owls who must consider rats pretty tasty. Still, flushing millions of rats out of New York's subterranean world is more likely to be a problem for New York people than a bonanza for New York owls.