Shack dwellers tested amid rat disease fears

The Mercury

23 Jan 2006

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=125&art_id=vn20060123070425942C105502

Shack dwellers tested amid rat disease fears
By Tony Carnie
Nearly 200 blood samples from Durban shack dwellers are being analysed by a team of local and foreign scientists amid fears that rats are spreading potentially fatal diseases to humans in parts of the city.

Because some of the symptoms are similar to flu, fever and malaria, officials say that cases of rat-borne illness could go untreated because of misdiagnosis by clinic staff and poor public awareness of the risks.

Blood and tissue samples from four species of rats and mice collected in Durban during the past two years all came up negative for bubonic plague, but in some parts of the city more than 30 percent of rats were found to be carrying leptospirosis and about 10 percent were carrying toxoplasmosis.

Both diseases can be passed from rats to humans. Although healthy people are unlikely to suffer much more than flu-like symptoms, the sicknesses can be fatal for the very young or old, as well as people infected with HIV and Aids.

‘Thhe rat blood tests are a cause for concern’
Newborn infants and developing embryos also face very grave risks if the mother contracts toxoplasmosis during pregnancy.

As a follow-up to the rat blood tests, more than 200 human blood samples were taken from volunteers in the Cato Crest informal settlement late last year. The results are expected to be published soon.

“The rat blood tests are a cause for concern, but the good news is that toxoplasmosis and leptospirosis can be prevented and are easily treated with antibiotics,” said Dr Peter John Taylor, Curator of Mammals at the Durban Natural Science Museum.

He said there was no reason for the public to panic, and the recent surveys would be very useful to prepare more effective treatment and control strategies in Durban, other South African cities and the rest of Africa.

Taylor is part of an international research project investigating rodent-related disease hot spots in four African countries.

Known as “Ratzooman”, the project is being funded by the European Union to check the re-emergence of zoonotic diseases (sicknesses which can be spread from animals to humans).

This article was originally published on page 1 of The Mercury on January 23, 2006