Thiruvananthapuram: Creating an alarming situation, 253 deaths due to leptospirosis (rat fever) have been officially reported in Kerala during the first eight months of this year alone. Last year, the disease had claimed a total of 283 persons in the state.

These are figures from government hospitals. Health experts said private hospitals had not disclosed details of cases and deaths to the government. Additionally, there are deaths in houses without confirmation of rat fever. Considering all these aspects, the experts said, the actual number of deaths due to the disease could be double the official figures. As per official data, the disease has claimed over 1,000 lives in Kerala since 2021.

The state’s Health Department has warned that the number of deaths could increase this year as rains and waterlogging persist in many areas. Moreover, the lack of awareness among the public regarding the disease and their failure to take preventive medicine is making things worse. Meanwhile, the Rapid Response Team (RRT) of the Health Department conducted a meeting and decided to intensify the public awareness campaign against the disease to bring down the death toll.

The government authorities had been apprehensive that rat fever would cause widespread deaths after the severe floods experienced in Kerala in 2018 and 2019 when many houses and other buildings were inundated. However, an extensive awareness campaign and distribution of preventive medicine by the authorities could keep rat fever in check to a large extent. While 2,079 cases of rat fever and 99 deaths were reported in 2018, there were 1,211 cases and 57 deaths in 2019.