Health officials have issued a warning about the increasing risk of leptospirosis, or rat fever, in Sri Lanka’s North Central Province, with 600 to 700 cases reported each year.
The alert coincides with the start of the Maha cultivation season, a period historically associated with higher transmission rates.
Leptospirosis is mainly spread through water contaminated by the urine of infected rodents, placing farmers working in paddy fields among the most vulnerable.
