Weils Disease... be aware!

[Noodleman]

Hey guys,

just a random note, i am sure most of you are aware of Weils disease, and how there is always a risk of picking it up around rivers due to the rats..

Well, i had it a few months ago, and it nearly killed me, a week in intensive care and plenty of time to recover, and im back on my feet.

I just wanted to make people aware that if you do get flu like symptoms, then don't rule our weils disease. make sure you get checked out by your doctor. A simple blood test should show if there is anything non flu like going on, and could save you months of recovery time.

It isn't very common for it to get to the stage mine did, but just because it isn't common, doesn't mean it can't happen to you too. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Now, im going to be getting back into shooting, and im going after those pesky rats! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[BrendanS]

Not a pleasant disease. I had a girlfriend who was a rower. The rowing club policy was that anyone that fell in, had to be tested.
Glad you've recovered OK!

 

[Poignard]

Also known as "Lock Keepers' Disease", for obvious reasons. Very nasty.

Glad you have recovered.

 

[byron]

How is it caught and what happens?
The bacterium enters the body through breaks in the skin (cuts, blisters, abrasions) and via the lining of the nose, throat and alimentary tract. The incubation period for the disease can last anything from 3 - 15 days (though cases over 30 days and under 48 hours have been recorded). Symptoms include fever, chills, muscular aches and pains, loss of appetite and nausea. In its starting stages it can be commonly mistaken for influenza, meningitis or a fever of unknown origin. The infection becomes more violent in its later stages with symptoms such as bruising of the skin, sore eyes, anaemia, nose bleeds and jaundice. The fever can last for around five days followed by a marked deterioration. Most people will recover completely with treatment, but there are cases where the illness causes serious damage to internal organs and can lead to death. Weil's disease is commonly treated by antibiotics. Recovery from the condition (once the serious stages are passed) can take from 6 to 12 weeks.
FROM Google

 

[lenseman]

Glad you have recovered. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

More here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weils_Disease

Nasty! /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

 

[Doolittle]

Having spent the last hour n half trying to tame Hurley Weir on 4 gates in my kayak playboat, and drunk half the river, again, I'm going to wash that river water down with a big coffee and bacon sandwhich!

But thanks for the warning. What do you think were the circustances, were you near still or stagnant water? What time of year?

Very glad you are through ot though.

 

[Noodleman]

I was river swimming (in training), i covered 15 miles through the waters of the Thames (Nowhere near the london area, more on the south west).

so, i spent a bit of time in the water, i didn't have any cuts, so belive it was where water was swallowed accidently.

Im sticking to ocean swimming now! until the boat has finished its refit /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[Chris_d]

I don't wish to alarm you, but colleague of mine at work caught Weils disease after Kayaking in a weir, that was in flood as well.

 

[Doolittle]

Bizarrely I had a friend who had multiple organ failure after visiting a cash point in Maidenhead and getting bitten on the hand by a critter whilst retrieving her cash.

I'm not too alarmed. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[Chris_d]

[ QUOTE ]
getting bitten on the hand by a critter whilst retrieving her cash

[/ QUOTE ]

Was that a Chav or a hoodie /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I only mentioned my colleague kayaking because it doesn't seem to be stagnet water that was involved in two cases I have heard of, it was flood water during high rainfull. When you think about the about of water gushing over the weirs at the moment, the concentration of the disease in the water must be infintesimial, but sods law says you will gulp that one in a million mouthfull /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[byron]

I read that too somewhere that the chance of getting it from the river is more likely in times of drought, not so much from the water as from something like a bit of wood that a rat has peed on.

 

[ADLS]

I think Weils Disease would be picked up from the river banks and lock/weir structures, rather than the rivers water.

Operatives in the construction industry are warned to wear gloves and wash their hands before meals, as rats climb all over stacked building material.

So we should all be very aware hanling anything in boat yards, moorings, gardens, farms etc, etc anywhere that rats may have taken a pee.

 

[No Regrets]

This is not a subject to be treated with the contempt some of you learn-ed Gents have so far!!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/rowing/9124270.stm

The River is a bigger threat when flooded, as all the rats piss washes into the River off the now flooded banks.

Summer should be technically safer.

Be a Boy Scout: Prepared.

Anybody who jumps in from my Boat is warned of the problem before getting wet: I tell them about Weils, and if they get any flu like symptoms to go and get treated immediately.

It's as important as wearing flotation devices when we venture to St Kats IMHO...