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We wish to highlight a recent case of Weil's disease (Leptospira interrogans serogroup icterohaemorrhagiae infection) in a young woman, associated with the adoption of a semi-wild rat. The incident was investigated collaboratively by the West Yorkshire Health Protection Unit (WYHPU), the Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA)-Thirsk, and the Department of Infection and Travel Medicine, St James's University Hospital, Leeds. It follows the publication by Gaudie and others (2008) of a similar case of Weil's disease acquired from a pet rat.
The woman had owned two pet rats, one of which was a 'fancy' rat (A), which had been found feral in her garden about two years before this incident. The other rat (B) had been purchased from a pet shop about 12 months previously. Rat A developed a chronic intractable respiratory disease and was euthanased in late October 2008; the same condition was controlled in rat B with intermittent oral enrofloxacin (Baytril oral solution 10%; Bayer). In early November 2008, a third rat (C), thought to be an escaped pet rat, was adopted...