Jack Osbourne Recalls Body 'Shutting Down' from Bacterial Disease After Stepping in Rat Urine

“I got really sick up there… I literally was dying," the 38-year-old reality TV star recalled on 'The Osbournes Podcast'

Jack Osbourne is recalling his near-death experience after contracting leptospirosis, a bacterial disease caused by rat urine.

During the April 23 episode of The Osbournes Podcast, the 38-year-old reflected on his hospitalization with parents Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne and sister Kelly Osbourne.

“I got leptospirosis, which is just like a crazy viral disease. Yeah, that sucked,” he said.

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Leptospirosis can spread to humans through breaks in the skin and mucous membranes (eyes, mouth, nose) from being around urine from an infected rodent.

“I’d gone and done some filming in a place called Bario in Malaysia, and we were doing a jungle track,” Jack explained. “I got really sick when I got out of the jungle but it took about two weeks.”

After leaving Malaysia, Jack said he was on a trip in Lapland, Finland, when he started experiencing symptoms. “I got really sick up there… I literally was dying. This wasn’t like a fake thing,” he said.

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Kelly, 39, chimed in and said that mom Sharon, 71, was “screaming her head off” and “calling the military” because she was so scared for his health.

“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 medevaced to Helsinki,” Jack said. “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 said he had six doctors and none of them could diagnose him, panicking because some were even throwing out possible diagnoses like malaria and HIV. However, he was later able to get properly diagnosed and treated.

“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!’ " he recalled.

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“I had Weil's disease, which is leptospirosis,” Jack said. “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.”

In humans, Leptospirosis can cause a wide range of symptoms, including: high fever, chills, vomiting and jaundice (yellow skin and eyes), to name a few. However, some infected persons may have no symptoms at all. If left untreated, it can lead to kidney damage, meningitis (inflammation of the membrane around the brain and spinal cord), liver failure, respiratory distress,or death, according to the CDC.

To prevent the spread of the disease, health officials recommend wearing protective clothing or footwear when exposed to potentially contaminated water or soil.

Leptospirosis is treated with antibiotics, such as doxycycline or penicillin, which the CDC states should be given early in the course of the disease.

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