Health Ministry statistics said 181 persons died of leptospirosis, commonly known as rat fever, so far this year in Sri Lanka. Another 5,994 people have caught the disease. Sixty three percent of the killed are farmers. Eighty three percent of the victims are male. Almost all of the deceased engaged in professions related to stagnated water. Leptospirosis is usually caused by exposure to water contaminated with the urine of infected animals. Health Ministry has identified 11 districts that are mostly affected by the disease. Colombo, Gampaha, Kurunegala, Matale, Kegalle, Kalutara, Kandy and Matara lead the list of districts. Highest number of deaths was reported from Gampaha where 39 persons died of the disease. In Colombo district 23 persons were victimized by the disease. According to health statistics records a sharp escalation of the cases has been observed. A total of 420 rat fever patients were reported by October 2008 with 16 deaths in the last two months in contrast to 82 cases reported from Karapitiya Hospital in 2006, and 43 in 2007.