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WHEN THE CITY FEEDS THE RAT:�URBAN INRASTRUCURE AND LEPTOSPIROSIS IN SINGAPORE

May – August 2025

Emma LAHMER

Master 2 Geography DynPED (UFR 08), emma.lahmer06@gmail.com

Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne – CNRS@CREATE

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University supervisor :

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Company supervisor : Secondary supervisor :

Dr. Yves-Marie Rault-Chodankar, Associate Professor of Geography at Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and a member of the Prodig (UMR 8586) research lab

Dr. Olivier Telle, CNRS researcher

Dr. Serge Morand, director of HealthDEEP IRL (Thailand) and CNRS researcher

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The aims of the study

  • How to control pest in urban settings
  • What are the impact of urban infrastructure design and planning on zoonotic disease transmission dynamics ?
  • Map the rat presence and its attractive factors in Outram P.A (climate, human activity, urban landscape …)
  • Examines health governance in Singapore and its effectiveness, as well as a potential status of health model at regional scale

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Methods: micro-territorial level

  • State of arts on:

- leptospirosis in Southeast Asia;

- rat in city;

- health governance.

  • Statistical analysis of leptospirosis cases at Singapore’s and ASEAN’s scale (comparison) since 1990s on Excel
  • Mapping with GIS (Qgis)
  • Timeline of leptospirosis history (cases, policy on rat, diseases and infrastructures) since 1940s
  • Fieldwork at night mostly to document urban structures, practices, infrastructure, green spaces and the conditions that favour the presence of rats

Two weeks for selection of study area

Two weeks for Phase 2 (at two time slots: 8PM-12PM; 4AM-6AM)

Two days for Phase 3 (4 rat clusters, observations for 1 hour)

  • Sketches for Phase 3
  • Photographs
  • Interviews with local actors, inhabitants, One Health governmental agencies

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Summary of results

  • High rat’s presence in Singapore
  • Chinatown as epicenter of rat presence in Outram P.A (food sources/waste, commercial activities concentration) despite pest control measures (physical and toxic bait traps, cats)
  • Use of urban landscape and infrastructure by rats (green spaces for burrows, drains for rat mobility, water contamination inside city and vulnerabilities of service sector’s employees)
  • Leptospirosis number of cases is growing but stable compared to 1990s regarding incidence rate (impact of rainfall 🡪 floods)
  • Need better cooperation between all One Health actors (more campaigns, transparency on data, economic threat of rat’s image, engage residents to fight bad practices like littering, new strategies for pest control)