There has been a big spike in cases of leptospirosis in flooded areas in New Zealand.

Leptospirosis is a bacterial infection shared in the urine of infected animals, which causes bad flu like symptoms, and two out of three people who contract it are hospitalised.

Last year there were 170 cases nationwide, nearly all in people living rurally. This was the highest number of cases of the disease in at least 20 years, said Massey University professor of veterinary public health Jackie Benschop. Data showed that 70 percent of people suspected of having the disease were not tested for it.

Of the 171 recorded cases, 39 were in the Hawke’s Bay in areas that had been flooded by Cyclone Gabrielle. That was five times the usual number of recorded cases usually in the Hawke’s Bay, Benschop said.