Rodent Pests and People

People Hate Rats
People hate and fear rats. In a recent questionnaire, rats were the most disliked of 14 common animals listed, and for good reason. Rodents or their parasites carry many diseases, including plague, salmonellosis, leptospirosis, typhus, and others. A plague outbreak occurred in the United States in 1924, and plague-carrying rodents are still found in Western states. From about five to forty cases of plague are reported to the U.S. Public Health Service every year. Some human cases arise from people contacting wild rodents in natural areas in the course of recreational pursuits. A very real danger remains that wild rodents such as squirrels and field mice could spread the disease to urban rats and from there to the human population, particularly as new housing continues to encroach upon wild rodent habitat in many areas. Periodic drought and brush fires in the Western U.S. may also serve to bring wild rodent carriers of the disease more in contact with people and the rats that live in and around buildings. New construction techniques may exclude the common Norway rat, but may favor population increases of the roof, or plague, rat, which is a more effective carrier of the disease than other pest rat species. Continued attention to rodent control is very important to keep plague from spreading.

As many as half of the rats sampled in some areas have been able to transmit leptospirosis, a disease affecting pets, livestock, and man. Pest rats and mice help keep the disease present in dogs, cats, and livestock, and people can become infected from contact with contaminated pets, water, or surfaces. The disease can have a 20 percent mortality rate, and recent human deaths have occurred from leptospirosis in both the U.S. and Britain. The number of human cases of leptospirosis are currently undergoing a dramatic increase.

The City Environment

How many rodents are present in our cities? Most published estimates have little basis in fact. Intensive trapping in Baltimore revealed between 200 and 300 rats in some heavily-infested blocks. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has estimated that over 300 communities have a rat problem, and currently 64 cities receive federal assistance for the problem. Enormous variation, however, exists from block to block, depending on the time of year and other factors.

Rat Bites
The most dismaying problem in the urban war against rodents is the incidence of rat bites in U.S. cities. Statistics on rat bites in just one city, New York, revealed a problem of epidemic proportions until the rate of over 700 reported bites a year was reduced by half, largely through control programs.

In the New York City study of 1,143 reported rodent bites, over 86 percent were caused by wild rats, 11 percent by wild mice, and only 2 percent by pet rodents. Over 90 percent of the bites occurred at the home and nearly all were indoors. Most occurred above the first floor, yet unfortunately control is often limited to ground level.

Children under five were the most frequent victims with bites to the feet, hands, and head most prevalent. Peaks in bites occurred in May through June and August through September, coinciding with the breeding peaks of the rats, more plentiful food and harborage, and less clothing protection to the victims. During this five-year period, there were six major garbage strikes in New York City during which garbage was again collected only after a health hazard had been declared. Despite prior and current control, such an increase of food may cause rodent populations to rebound. This emphasizes the importance of environmental conditions on rodent control. Accurate records of rat bites are a useful tool to evaluate the impact of control, or reveal areas needing attention. Rat bites alone, even if infection does not develop (rats do not carry rabies), are a stressful injury. Probably only one-tenth of all rat bites are reported and, unfortunately, few cities keep adequate records.

Rodents Destroy Our Food
Rodents contaminate far more food than they actually consume. For example, in six months, one pair of mice can produce some 18,000 fecal droppings. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration destroys about 400,000 tons of food yearly that is contaminated by rodent droppings. The FDA has established minimum standards for such filth in our food, such as allowing two rodent hairs per 3 1/3 oz. of peanut butter. For many people in the world, foodstuffs lost to rodents may literally mean the difference between life and death. The World Health Organization reports that about 20 percent of the crops we plant never reach our table, and that five million people die yearly from starvation. Typically, areas with the worst rodent problems, including in U.S. cities, are inhabited by the poorest people most susceptible to the impacts of rodents on human health.

Rodents Destroy Our Homes
The teeth in rats are harder than iron, and the jaws can exert pressures of 24,000 pounds per square inch. The gnawing of rats and mice destroys foundations, doors, molding, insulation, plumbing, and sewer lines. They can chew into garbage cans, automobiles, priceless works of art, and nearly any other area or object in and around our homes and businesses. And rats chew wiring. From 5 to 25 percent of all fires of “undetermined origin” are believed to be caused by rats. Besides the tremendous economic losses in such cases, there were 4,897 deaths in residential fires in the U.S. between the years 1978 and 1984 and even greater losses of the lives of pets and domestic animals.

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