Water Borne illness

experimenter

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1323594/Rat-disease-kills-Andy-Holmes-Rower-dead-days-water-borne-illness.html

Folks,

I spotted this on another fishing website and there no harm in bringing it to this forum's attention.

"sad news indeed , but what was surprising is that his death was caused by weill's disease also known as leptospirosis, this disease is caused by coming in contact with urine from infected animals such as rats and is found in many stillwaters and rivers,chances of exposure are small but how many of us eat our sambos and snacks while fishing after spending the whole day with our hands in contact with this very same water.."




Personally I always carry a can of hydro alcoolique gel (hand wash) when out and about fishing.

beer enigma

Thanks for this experimenter - all too easy to just pick up a sarny when the fishings' good !

Likewise I carry a handspray & have done for a good few years since a mate of mine contracted Weils - he was lucky & only spent a couple of days in hospital.

They say with the building boom has displaced a lot of rats & climate change has encouraged breeding.

I read a report in the angling press recently about some guy that got severe shellfish poisoning from handling raw mussels that he was using as bait !

coolwings

I heard of a lady golfer who contracted Weils disease in Ireland relatively near to Dublin. Apparently she hit a ball into a ditch, and found it after looking about the brush on the banks for a while.
She lifted the ball out and played on. But scratches on her hand from the thorns on the bankside and the stagnant ditchwater had rats urine in it and the rest just happened.

It is not a worry in flowing water due to water quantity, dilution etc but in small ponds and ditches care must be taken.

aidanf

I know a couple of kayakers who have caught this. I think cuts and grazes getting in contact with the water are higher risk than just having touched the water and then later touching your sandwiches.

And given how many people swim/kayak/canoe/fish in Irish waterways every year it's relatively rare. And a lot of people who do get it don't even know about it as it's passed off as a bout of flu. Some people have a bad reaction to it though and that's when it's really serious. So it's a good idea to be aware of the symptoms. Here's a couple of links:

http://www.iws.ie/guides-page24423.html

http://www.caving.ie/publications/caving-information-pack/weils-disease-leptospirosis/