A woman has died from a rare disease after she was scratched by a rat that she was trying to free from her garden bird feeder.

Carol Colburn, 56, ignored pleas from her husband to wear gloves and suffered scratches and cuts to her fingers as she struggled to free the rodent from the wire feeder. Four days later she developed flu-like symptoms, and within 48 hours she was dead. An inquest heard she had contracted Weil's disease, a severe form of leptospirosis, which is caused by bacteria found in the urine of wild animals.



In most cases of leptospirosis, sufferers experience severe headaches and flu-like symptoms. Weil's disease, which affects around 10 per cent of leptospirosis victims, causes jaundice and liver damage, and can be fatal.

About 50 confirmed cases of Weil's disease are reported to the Public Health Authority each year but in 2006 just two people died from the condition.

In a statement given to the inquest, Mrs Colburn's husband, Peter, who has since died of lung cancer, said she had rushed outside after hearing the rat screaming. Ignoring requests from him and their son, Ross, to put gloves on, she grappled with the animal as she tried to free it.

She began feeling unwell and later became jaundiced and could not move.

Marc Cubbon, a microbiologist at the Royal Sussex Hospital in Brighton, told Brighton Coroners' Court that humans can become infected if they come into contact with the animal's urine, either in soil or in water, or if they come into contact with the animal's skin and they have an open wound.

He said it was also possible that humans might be able to inhale the disease.

He said that after a conversation with Mrs Colburn at 2pm on May 8, he had begun considering leptospirosis. By 5pm, she had died from a heart attack, before either of her daughters, Katrina, 27, and Zoe, 30, were able to get to hospital.

Katrina, 27, said: "My mum spent hours in the garden feeding wild animals and wouldn't have given it a second thought.

"It has come as such a shock and seems like such a shame that trying to rescue an animal should have such dire consequences."

Recording a narrative verdict, Arthur Hooper, the deputy coroner for Brighton and Hove, said: "The public should be made aware of the dangers of leaving food out, deliberately or unintentionally, that might attract animals like rats. If you must come into contact with rats please wear gloves."