Outbreaks of the bacterial disease, which can spread at dog parks and indoor play places, are up in Los Angeles and New York City.
The particular strain behind this outbreak passes from dogs to other dogs. “So it’s likely being transmitted at dog parks, day-care facilities, boarding kennels and other highly social areas for dogs,” says VCA Regional medical director Dr. Silene St. Bernard. Many indoor dog play places around L.A., as well as veterinarians, have been sending out alerts to their clients to make sure they vaccinate their four-legged friends.
Leptospirosis is a bacterial disease that is shed through the urine of infected animals, most commonly rats, raccoons, opossums and other infected dogs. Once the bacteria have infected water or soil, they can survive there for weeks, even months. “I’ve read that we have about 2 million rats living in NYC and that there has been an increased number of complaints regarding rat infestations in the past year,” he says. “Direct contact of dogs with wildlife is not a common means of leptospirosis transmission, but more rats naturally means more rat urine. Combined with the increased rainfall, this could be leading to more potential for domestic animals to come into contact with leptospires in parks and on the streets.
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