A man catches disease while kayaking down a river. Many believe he caught this rare disease from contaminated fresh water.
Sam Owen, 24, believes the bacteria from rat urine entered his body through his eyes and nose, as well as grazes on his hands from rock climbing. Mr Owen, of Petersfield, Hampshire, said: ‘I read there was two weeks from when you contract it to going pass the point of surviving. I was 17 days so I shouldn’t have survived. ‘I am extremely lucky and grateful to be alive.’-Dailymail
The disease is called “Weil’s disease“.
When he had came back from work, he didn’t realize what would happen next.
After returning to his job a few days later as a full-time lifeguard, he came home from a shift and started throwing up blood. -Dailymail
He said: ‘While I was in hospital a couple of my friends visited. They said “you look really, really green”. ‘While I was on the ward I ate a small meal and began throwing up black sick. It wasn’t very nice.’
The disease can be caught by contacting rat or cattle urine. It attacks the kidney, liver, and then the organs.
The illness - also known as leptospirosis - has claimed four lives in the UK since 2009.
Dr John Knighton, a critical care consultant based in Portsmouth, said: ‘The disease is fairly rare. It is a bacteria that is transmitted through the urine of rats; infected rates urinate into an environment that allows the bacteria into humans.