Besancon (AFP)
Two of the three young people infected in Haute-Saône by leptospirosis, a potentially fatal infectious disease dubbed "the disease of rats", were still hospitalized Saturday in a "serious" state, said the Regional Health Agency (ARS) Bourgogne-Franche -County.
Their condition is however "stable", told AFP Marc Di Palma, doctor at the ARS.
One of their friends was also infected and hospitalized but his "health condition improved rapidly," he added.
These three people were part of a group of six young people who came to bathe in the river L'Ognon, Pesme (Haute-Saone), in an uncontrolled bathing area, and therefore without sanitary control.
According to the Haute-Saône prefecture, these three cases are the "only (...) detected to date" in the region.
The two most severely affected youths were "hospitalized for severe symptomatology (...), with issues affecting certain organs," said Di Palma.
Their evolution, "stable at the moment", "requires significant surveillance and they are supported in specialized services," he added.
"Leptospirosis can develop in areas of wastewater discharge, where there is a proliferation of germ-carrying nutrients that contaminate the water with their urine." Those who bathe in these places may then be exposed to this disease. "explained the doctor.
"All activities of bathing and freshwater aquatic recreation presents a risk of exposure to bacteria responsible for leptospirosis," warned Friday evening in a statement the prefecture, recalling that "swimming should be practiced in supervised areas subject to sanitary control ".
Leptospirosis, a predominantly summer disease, is caused by bacteria in the urine of animals, mainly rodents. After the incubation, from three to twenty days, the disease is manifested in the majority of cases by signs resembling the flu (high fever with chills, muscle and joint pain, headaches, digestive disorders).
Severe forms can lead to potentially life-threatening organ damage (multi-organ failure), kidney failure and hemorrhage.
© 2019 AFP