encampment in Berkeley, California.

Leptospirosis, which is caused by Leptospira bacteria, is a zoonotic infection that can be passed from animals to people.

The disease has been confirmed in multiple rats and dogs at the homeless encampments along Harrison Street near Eighth Street in West Berkeley, according to an alert from City of Berkeley Public Health.

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Rats and their urine are the primary vectors of the disease, officials warned. It can also be transmitted through contaminated soil or water exposed to infected animal urine.

“People or animals who touch or drink contaminated water or mud are potentially exposed to the bacteria,” the alert stated. “The disease is transmitted to humans and animals when the contaminated water touches mucous membranes, such as eyes, nose, mouth or skin cuts. This disease is not spread in the air or by coughing or sneezing.”

There is a higher risk after heavy rainfall, flooding or hurricanes, as this increases contact with infected water or soil.

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Leptospirosis typically causes flu-like symptoms, including fever, chills, headache, body aches, vomiting or nausea, according to the CDC. Infected people may also experience yellowed eyes or skin, rash, stomach pain or diarrhea.

Without antibiotic treatment, the disease can lead to serious illness, including kidney damage, liver failure, meningitis and difficulty breathing. In rare cases, it can be fatal to humans and animals, health officials say.

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Illness usually begins between two and 30 days of exposure to the bacteria, according to the CDC. People generally start feeling better within a few days or weeks, but recovery without treatment could take several months.

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“The presence of rats that are transmitting leptospirosis has made the area unsafe for human encampment conditions in the vicinity of Harrison Street encampments in the area generally bounded by San Pablo Avenue, Gilman Street, Codornices Creek and the railroad tracks,” the alert stated.

The city has designated public health risk zones, with the Red Zone marking the highest risk area inside the encampment. Surrounding areas have been defined as the Yellow Zone, with an elevated but lower risk.

“The City’s Health Officer strongly recommends that encampment residents move out of the defined encampment ‘RED ZONE’ area as soon as possible and at least ⅓ of a mile away due to the public health risk caused by the rat infestation transmitting leptospirosis in the area,” officials advised.

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Residents in the area are encouraged to avoid contact with standing water and mud, use protective clothing and monitor themselves and their pets for signs of illness.

Anyone who has been exposed or is experiencing symptoms should seek immediate medical attention.

With a new year underway, it might seem like a good idea to embrace a stricter morning routine of waking up early and getting a jump-start on the day — but a 6 a.m. alarm isn’t for everyone, experts say.

“Morning birds” fall asleep and reach deep sleep earlier, often waking up more alert, while “night owls” naturally sleep later and rely more on late-night and early-morning REM. Waking too early can leave night owls groggy and less mentally restored. 

“We need to move beyond the ‘early bird gets the worm’ sayings and consider the biological cost of fighting one’s internal clock,” Dr. Aaron Pinkhasov, chair of the Department of Psychiatry at NYU Grossman Long Island School of Medicine, told Fox News Digital.

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The science of sleep

People sleep in repeated 90- to 110-minute cycles that alternate between deep NREM sleep and REM sleep, according to Pinkhasov. 

Early in the night, deep sleep dominates, supporting physical repair, immunity and memory. Later cycles include more REM sleep, which supports learning, emotional regulation and brain function. Brief awakenings between cycles are normal.

Whether someone naturally rises early or late depends on the body’s “chronotype,” that is, whether they’re a morning bird or a night owl, he said.

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The chronotype is a “genetic blueprint” that determines when the body is naturally more alert or ready to rest, according to Pinkhasov.

“About 40% to 50% of our sleep-wake preference is inherited, meaning our internal clock is hardwired,” he noted.

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Waking earlier than one’s body’s clock often means sacrificing REM sleep. Forcing this discrepancy between the internal clock and the alarm clock can lead to “wired but tired” fatigue, mood instability and long-term metabolic risks, Pinkhasov warned.

“Unfortunately, because a lot of people have early work, family or social commitments, night owls have a higher prevalence of anxiety, depression, eating disorders, obesity, obstructive sleep apnea and [type 2 diabetes],” Dr. Nissa Keyashian, a California board-certified psychiatrist and author of “Practicing Stillness,” told Fox News Digital.

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Ultimately, health and productivity are highest when prioritizing consistency and sleep quality over an early-morning goal, experts say.

“The main benefit of switching to an earlier schedule is social alignment. It makes it easier to navigate a world built around a 9-to-5 lifestyle. However, the drawbacks can be significant if the shift is forced,” Pinkhasov said.

Smart shifts

There are some ways to “rewire” internal clocks or at least lessen the negative effects. Experts agree that having a regular bedtime and wake-up time — even on the weekends — can help.

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Pinkhasov recommends a wind-down nighttime routine that includes minimizing electronics, meditating, using essential oils, taking a warm shower or bath or drinking warm, herbal tea.

Pushing up your wake-up time by just 15 minutes a day is the most helpful, according to Keyashian.

The expert also recommends exposure to bright light in the morning, which can be helpful for mood, energy and concentration. People who experience dips in mood during the winter months can also benefit from using a therapeutic light box.

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“If you believe this might be you, I recommend speaking with a psychiatrist,” she advised. “I also recommend minimizing caffeine. Some people also notice difficulty falling asleep with exercise late in the day, so be mindful of this as well.”

Research conducted partly aboard the International Space Station (ISS) suggests that “microgravity” could help scientists fight drug-resistant superbugs, according to a report from SWNS.

Microgravity is the condition in which people or objects appear to be weightless, NASA states.

Experiments by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison show that viruses and bacteria behave differently in near-weightless conditions. In space, they develop genetic changes not typically seen on Earth.

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Lead study author Dr. Phil Huss, a researcher at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, noted that interactions between viruses that infect bacteria — known as phages — and their hosts play an “integral” role in how microbial ecosystems function, per the SWSN report.

Viruses that infect bacteria were still able to infect E. coli in space. However, the way those infections unfolded was different from what is typically observed on Earth.

Bacteria and phages are often described as being locked in an evolutionary arms race, Huss said, with each side constantly adapting to outmaneuver the other.

“Microgravity is not just a slower or noisier version of Earth — it is a distinct physical and evolutionary environment,” researcher Srivatsan Raman, Ph.D., professor of biochemistry at the university, told Fox News Digital. 

“Even in a very simple phage-bacteria system, microgravity altered infection dynamics and pushed both organisms down different evolutionary paths,” he added.

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While these interactions between bacteria and phages have been well-studied on Earth, few studies have examined them in space, where they can lead to different outcomes.

For the study, Huss and his colleagues compared two sets of E. coli samples infected with a phage known as T7. One set was incubated on Earth, while the other was grown aboard the ISS.

The team found that after an initial slowdown, the T7 phage successfully infected E. coli in space. Genetic analysis later revealed clear differences in how both the bacteria and the virus mutated in space compared with how they behaved on Earth, per the report.

Huss said the phages grown aboard the space station developed mutations that could improve their ability to infect bacteria or attach to bacterial cells. At the same time, the E. coli grown in space developed mutations that could help them resist infection and survive better in near-weightless conditions.

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Raman said some of the findings were unexpected. In particular, he noted, microgravity led to mutations in parts of the phage genome that are not well-understood and are rarely seen in Earth-based experiments.

Researchers then used a technique called deep mutational scanning — a method that tracks how genetic changes affect function — to examine changes in the T7 receptor-binding protein, which plays a key role in infection.

Additional experiments on Earth linked those changes to increased effectiveness against E. coli strains that are normally resistant to T7.

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“Equally surprising was that phages shaped by microgravity could be more effective against terrestrial bacterial pathogens when brought back to Earth,” Raman told Fox News Digital.

“That result suggests microgravity can reveal combinations of mutations that are difficult to access through standard laboratory evolution, but [are] still highly relevant for real-world applications.”

“Microgravity is not just a slower or noisier version of Earth — it is a distinct physical and evolutionary environment.”

Huss said the findings could help address antibiotic-resistant infections, including urinary tract infections, which have been increasing in recent years.

“By studying those space-driven adaptations, we identified new biological insights that allowed us to engineer phages with far superior activity against drug-resistant pathogens back on Earth,” Huss told SWNS.

Study limitations

“Experiments on the ISS are constrained by small sample sizes, fixed hardware and scheduling constraints,” Raman noted. “Samples also experience freezing and long storage times, which can complicate interpretation.”

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He added that the research has broader implications.

“Studying microbes in space isn’t just about space biology,” Raman said. “These experiments can uncover new aspects of viral infection and microbial evolution that feed directly back into terrestrial problems, including antimicrobial resistance and phage therapy.”

He added that space should be treated as a discovery environment rather than a routine testing platform. The most effective approach, according to Raman, is to identify useful patterns and mutations in space and then study them carefully in Earth-based systems.

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Scientists also noted that the findings highlight how microbial ecosystems, like those associated with humans, could change during long space missions.

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“Understanding and anticipating those changes will be essential as space travel becomes longer, more routine and more biologically complex,” Raman said.

The findings were published in the journal PLOS Biology.