Some rodents, such as rats can act as reservoir hosts via asymptomatic carriage of bacteria and have been established as vectors for transmission. Humans, as well as both domestic and wild animals, are dead-end hosts, and are susceptible to acute or chronic infection. The bacteria are transmitted via contaminated urine through broken skin, eyes, and mucous membranes and can cause acute infection. Symptoms include febrile illness, headaches, and myalgia , but in many cases, symptoms of acute infection extend to pulmonary hemorrhaging, renal failure, liver failure and death