Invading
my city***
Mr. Charleston from the floor above, gets ratty tat-tats
on his door
If friends do accompany him, a light knock
would suffice.
Teetering chairs they lean back in. scrape through my
ears, right to my core
Clenching teeth, weary eyes, I totter upstairs
carrying my neighborly advice.
Broom still in hand from my chores, leading as my gallivant
sword
Words brewing in my mind, as I huff and puff up all
seven stairs
Ascending to the battle grounds, ready to settle this
disturbing accord
My hand extended to carefully knock on account of
these eerie chairs
Grabbing his cane, step by step, he comes to the
peephole to explore
What this visitor from below would discuss, perhaps she
would be rather nice
Dusty broom, and unkempt hair, she stares at this man then
past him for more
More people do not show themselves, he coughs once,
she flinches twice
She swore she heard them bustling about, scrapping
their chairs, that creaking board
Apologizing for his time, she turns back to her own
cares
Returning to her household work, she figured it would
better be ignored
But before the sun stoops below horizon’s belt, “I’ll
find that noise” so she declares
Her broom in hand, she climbs again, to Mr. Charleston’s
musty floor
Hearing tap- tap from within, before she lets go of all
her vice
She waits patiently at his door, perhaps an hour,
maybe more
Disgruntled, tired, she opens to see his body
surrounded by- enlarged mice
Article: Dr. Manny: Rat
epidemic in New York a dire warning for other cities
Many of our country’s major
cities have severe infrastructure and housing challenges. This has led not only
to poor living conditions but also places individuals’ health in grave danger.
In New York City, among our many housing woes, we have a rat infestation
epidemic. Rats have become so common to our residents that the media celebrated
a rat carrying a pizza from the subway, and even gave it a name. An important
message gets lost in the hoopla over something like “Pizza Rat,” and it’s about
the danger that rodents pose to humans and our health.
Remember the Black Death? It was one of the most devastating
pandemics in human history that swept through Europe in the 1300s claiming
upwards of 100 million lives. The cause was the bubonic plague, which is
an infectious disease caused by the Yersinia pestis bacteria that humans can
get through either infected flea bites or direct contact with an infected
animal. Human-to-human transmission is rare, but an infected person can
transmit plague pneumonia to another through cough droplets in the air.
Plague can be successfully treated with antibiotics, but a
suspected case requires immediate medical attention. According to the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), patients must be given antibiotics as
soon as possible to avoid death. The most common vector of the disease during
Black Death was rats.
And here we are, in 2017, in danger of another bacterial disease
linked to rats called leptospirosis. Already in New York’s Bronx borough, the
disease has killed one person and left two others clinging to life. Sure, the
city’s deputy commissioner of the Health Department wants you to be encouraged
by the two patients’ recovery, but what you should be is concerned that these
three people were infected because of where they live. All three cases came
from a one-block radius over the past two months.
Leptospira bacteria thrive in
warm, moist environments, and most human cases are associated with exposure to
rats or rodent-infested environments. Disturbingly, humans can become infected
through contact with rat urine or water, soil or food that has been
contaminated by the urine.
Doctors want anyone with suspected symptoms to report them to
the health department and seek immediate medical attention. You could experience
a wide range of symptoms, like fever, headaches, nausea, vomiting, muscle pain
and other awful ailments, or you may experience nothing at all. If you’re in
the latter category, how would you know to seek treatment? Without treatment
you could suffer kidney damage, meningitis, liver failure, respiratory distress
or even death. Infection during pregnancy may result in severe fetal and
maternal morbidity or mortality.
I
know I talk a lot about the importance of disease
prevention like getting vaccines and
keeping up with routine care, but this time, we can only blame city officials.
How did they let the rat infestation get this out of control?
How could they not have known during routine health inspections that rat
infestations could lead to death? I’m well aware that in a budget crunch,
things like pest control are the first to be cut, but we are talking about the
hygiene of our city.
Big cities’ health departments, especially in a place like New
York, cannot continue function the way they do today. They are always reactive,
never proactive. The city health departments should be the first ones to ring
the bell to alert city officials and citizens that there is a health problem
brewing. We should not have to wait until people have to be removed from their
homes and hospitalized before anybody begins to think about how to react.
Dr. Manny Alvarez serves as Fox News Channel's senior
managing health editor. He also serves as chairman of the department of
obstetrics/gynecology and reproductive science at Hackensack University Medical
Center in New Jersey.
