A VERY REAL DANGER…

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Whether one species or the other, rats are propagators of diseases for humans, particularly among the most serious. The disease with which we most associate rats is, undoubtedly, plague, which is mainly spread by rats and transmitted to humans through flea bites from infected animals. Leptospirosis is sometimes called rat disease; rat or mouse urine almost always appears to be the direct or indirect source of human infections. Other diseases can also be transmitted by rats such as rat bite fever (streptobacillus) (or Haverhill fever), Sodoku which is a variant of rat bite fever. But in addition to this health point of view, rats are opportunists and they attack food reserves which they devour and soil with their droppings. They endanger crops in certain tropical countries and can cause ecological imbalances. For one grain devoured by the rat, 10 to 15 grains are soiled and rendered inedible. Mice represent a nuisance when they settle and proliferate in buildings, consuming and degrading food, paper, materials.