Jack Osbourne recalls time his body 'shut down' from bacterial disease after stepping in rat urine
Jack was on the brink of death and nobody knew why
Jack Osbourne nearly died after stepping in rat urine.
The reality TV star told viewers this week during an episode of The Osbournes Podcast about his near-death experienced after contracting a bacterial infection.
Speaking to his parents Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne and sister Kelly Osbourne, he said: “I got leptospirosis, which is just like a crazy viral disease. Yeah, that sucked.”
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The Center for Disease Control and Prevention, states that Leptospirosis is contracted to humans if contaminated rodent urine enters the eyes, mouth or nose.
Jack explained: “I’d gone and done some filming in a place called Bario in Malaysia, and we were doing a jungle track.
“I got really sick when I got out of the jungle but it took about two weeks.”
This slow burner waited until he had gone to Lapland in Finland when he began noticing something was off.
He explained: “I got really sick up there… I literally was dying. This wasn’t like a fake thing.
“Having a tropical disease when you’re in Finnish Lapland... they were looking at me like, ‘We don’t know what to do.’ So I got medevacked to Helsinki.
“I get put into the university hospital there. No one speaks English so I get flown to London.”
He continued: “At this point, I’m like five days into my body legitimately shutting down and I’m lying in this bed, I haven’t eaten, my kidneys and liver are like going into failure and I'm like, ‘Uh, I’m f****** losing it.’”
Jack explained that no one could diagnose him and they didn’t know what was happening to him.
But then they finally cracked it.
He said: “This guy who was the head of tropical diseases for the NHS, he’s like the number one guy, left and at 7 a.m. comes running into my room days later like, ‘I’ve got it!’
“I had Weil's disease, which is leptospirosis.
“I got it because I’ve got leech bites on the bottom of my feet. I was swimming and bathing in a river and we were climbing on rocks and jumping into this jungle river and I stepped in a puddle on this boulder and it had rat’s piss in it.”
Leptospirosis in humans can have some nasty symptoms, like chills, a fever, vomiting, jaundice, muscle aches and more.
Some people don’t even experience any of those, but this is dangerous as if you’re untreated, you can get meningitis, liver failure or even death.
If you think you have it, make sure you see a doctor as soon as possible as only antibiotics can help to treat it.
Also, look where you’re walking.
Topics: Health, Podcast, Sharon Osbourne, Celebrity, Travel
Britt Jones