14 July 2015 (23:19 UTC-07 Tango 01, 13 July 2015)/23 Tir 1394/27 Ramadan 1436/29 Gui-Wie 4713

“Initial symptoms include highly coloured urine, fever and muscle ache, which exacerbates into jaundice, drop in platelets and later a possible kidney failure.”-Pratit Samdani,  Bhatia Hospital, India

The Central California SPCA is warning of a bacteria that’s attacking dogs, but can also attack humans and is potentially deadly.

There’s been a sudden spike in cases of dogs getting sick in Fresno.  The culprit is leptospirosis.  Veterinarians say there is no specific symptom to be on the lookout for, but they think the dogs can pick it up by sniffing and licking other dogs: “But you know they lick themselves, so the mouth is certainly a place of contact. You don’t want to come home from work and get a kiss from your dog, and you could be potentially having problems. So in humans it has flu-like symptoms.”-Chris Dobbins, Fresno Pet ER

There is a vaccine for dogs but it’s not included in the normal set of vaccinations given to dogs, you have to ask for the Lepto vaccine.

In India, health administrators are on the alert after 16 people infected with leptospirosis died!  Doctors in Mumbai are concerned that the bacteria has evolved into a anti-biotic resistant killer.

What’s being called the Lepto Deaths in India took place over the past ten days.  So far this year 59 people in Mumbai have been infected.  It’s being blamed on rodents, felines and canines.

It should be pointed out that in 2013 India saw 327 cases of lepto in humans, but only three deaths (a 0.91% kill ratio).  So far this year 59 people have been infected but 16 have died (a 27% kill ratio), indicating this year’s lepto strain has become deadly.