Local leaders were preparing for an emergency meeting Wednesday night to warn a community in New York City about a deadly disease spread by rats that took the life of one of their neighbors.

A Bronx resident died of the rare bacterial disease commonly spread by contact with rat urine, and two more were recently diagnosed with the disease, city health officials say.

The cluster of leptospirosis infections has been identified in a one block area of the Grand Concourse in the Bronx, officials say. The health department is working with the housing preservation and the building departments to reduce the rat population there and is in touch with tenants there.

"This illness can be serious but it treatable with readily available antibiotics," the health department said in a statement, noting that it's very rarely spread from person to person.

The bacteria is such a concern that the Red Cross provided emergency housing for eight families in the area as residents learn more at the emergency meeting and the health department investigates.

Two patients in the Bronx cluster were diagnosed in December, and one in February. One of them has died, while the other two have recovered.

There are typically one to three cases of leptospirosis every year in New York City, health officials say.

In cases of leptospirosis, bacteria enter the body through open wounds and cuts in the skin, or the eyes, nose or mouth. Some people who are infected may have no symptoms, while others may have mild illness with fever, headache, chills, muscle aches, vomiting or diarrhea.

Rarely, infected people may develop a life-threatening illness that affects their kidneys and liver.

Officials say precautions against the disease include avoiding contact with rats or with places where rats may have urinated, and washing hands thoroughly with soap and water after any contact with areas where rats may live.

Some residents say it isn't that easy in a city filled with the rodents.

"The thing is we have a lot of rats, not just in the building, the train is full of them," one woman said.

Another resident, Yocelin Gomez, said she's afraid to walk her dog.

"I can't go outside with my dog, because he has to go over rats. This is in the basement, this is on my floor, the whole building," Gomez said.

If you cannot avoid areas where rats have been seen, use a bleach solution to kill the bacteria in the area, and protect yourself from contact with rat urine by using rubber gloves, boots, masks and some type of eyewear.