Tag Archives: rats

Recent headlines about Hantavirus have understandably made many people anxious. There are several reasons for the concern. First, there is no treatment for the virus, and infection carries a high mortality rate. Second, after living through the COVID-19 pandemic, we are all a bit more on edge with reports of emerging viruses. Finally, Hantavirus has been relatively unknown until recently, when it was implicated in the death of Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman’s wife and now to illnesses aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship. As a veterinarian, I thought it would be helpful to explain what Hantavirus is, how it spreads and whether pet owners should be concerned about their dogs and cats.

Just before the holidays, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene released its annual report to veterinarians on an important infectious disease, leptospirosis. As a New York City veterinarian, this report concerns me, and pet owners should be concerned too. Following several years of declining infection numbers, cases ticked up in 2022, the latest year data was available. In total, there were 20 confirmed “lepto” cases in the five boroughs in 2022, up from 18 in 2021. (To see previous years’ reports, visit the NYC DOH website.) Leptospirosis causes kidney failure and elevated liver tests, which may require hemodialysis and may be fatal. This blogpost describes some important features of canine leptospirosis.

It’s been all over the news in 2021: rat sightings are way up in New York City. While there’s plenty of speculation why, one thing is clear: increased interaction between

Leptospirosis made the news last week when the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene reported a cluster of three human cases had been identified in the Bronx.

Historians believe rats arrived in the new world as stowaways on the sailing ships of explorers like Christopher Columbus. These “colonist” rats brought diseases such a plague and typhus. A