Rat infestation causes discomfort and health problems.
The discomfort caused could be the smell of their waste, that when left unattended could induce nausea for people in their homes, other diseases connected with rats might even become fatal in severe cases. In a news story concerning the dangers of rat infestation, it was stated that there are several illnesses that people could get due to rat droppings as well as scattered waste that could get mixed with food on the kitchen work surfaces or shelves at the supermarket.
A little bit of history about rats. In China, they consider a white rat to be good luck. It has also been found that rats did not originate in America or Europe but were introduced accidentally by the trading ships traveling around the world. In Japan they believe that rats will bring abundant rice to the world. I wonder if that will be still believed at the present time especially because of the hazards that rat infestation brings.
So, what should be done about the booming population of rats?
In England the rat population is causing some alarm to local people around Lewes and Brighton. People are aware that rats thrive in the sewer and are aware of the health hazards rats could bring to the human population.
Rats are from the rodent family (the word originated from Latin, rodere) which means eat away or gnaw. Rats often chew on hard things because their teeth keep growing and they need to keep those growing teeth sharp. Rats are able to chew on mild steel and concrete.
There are different diseases that this innocent looking pest could bring. Some of the diseases are Weils disease, Salmonella and Murine Typhus. You would know if you have been infected with Weils disease when you have 5 days of fever, muscular pains and fever and later symptoms may include nose bleeding, sore eyes and jaundice. If the person does not have this symptoms treated, will be fatal.
The other disease is salmonella and in relation to rats this is caused when food is contaminated with the urine of a rat. When there is a large amount that has been ingested this could then cause a person to be very ill and would need to be treated at the hospital.
Murine typhus is usually carried by fleas that infest rats. Lots of people are not aware that they might be infected already by this disease. Some symptoms that should be known are: chills, cough, headache or nausea.
With all of this information people can be more aware of their food hygiene. Always be careful not to eat or drink something that has not been covered or left out overnight. Knowing some of the symptoms it is better to be safe than sorry by consulting a doctor.
There are different ways to eradicate rats from your home. Some suggest the use of chemicals that could be mixed with some leftovers for the rat to eat or drink. Then there is also the old traditional mouse trap that might be a better way because when the rat is trapped you don’t have the chance of accidentally touching a part of it which could expose you to any of the diseases we have mentioned. Studies of rats have found that they can not recognize bitter tastes which is why we are able to use poisons ion them effectively.