Leptospirosis, a disease spread by rodents that causes liver and kidney failure, has infected 62 people, killing four of them, officials said. ``The epidemics have sprung up because many cities were under water and mud, which caused the rats and other animals to come out of their hiding places and into the streets,'' Rosa said. The waters destroyed more than 200,000 homes, leaving 10 percent of Honduras' 6.1 million residents homeless. Because the government has little heavy machinery, many neighborhoods are still covered in muck.

The army and about 300,000 college students are cleaning houses by hand. The government says Mitch killed 5,657 people last month in Honduras.