Leptospirosis, is a disease that occurs worldwide, but is more common in the tropics. It can have two phases. The second phase, also known as Weil's disease,which can occur if no treatment is received, and can result in kidney or liver failure, menangitis or respiratory ailments. It is often mistaken for other diseases, but can be confirmed with a blood or urine test, and treated with antibiotics. It is often caught through cuts and abrasions, while wading or swimming through water infected by animal or human urine

Rats are prime spreaders.

Right here in the U.S. My husband got a memo at his work that stated that one of the employees (a pretty big company with lots of outsourcing) had died due to mouse urine on a soda pop can lid. He got the soda out of the machine and didn't wash it off and it had apparently sat in a warehouse before being loaded into the machine. He was a healthy man and came to work regularly and 3 days later he was gone.
I wash any can I use. Anything that may have been stored in a warehouse or sold at a Wal-Mart. I'm pretty sure they're in on this.
Just kidding. I had to get in my daily Wal-Mart Jab. LOL

I wonder if this type of thing happened down in Louisiana. That area is pretty tropical. I'm not surprised though that we didn't hear ...