If you are suspicious of a rodent problem in your Huntersville, NC, home or business, you should seek help immediately. These pests are a massive inconvenience and cannot be controlled or eliminated without the help of a professional exterminator.
Go-Forth Home Services is a local company that has expert, professional exterminators with decades of experience who are well-equipped and knowledgeable in rodent elimination. If you live in or around Huntersville, NC, Go-Forth is the pest control service to call. To emphasize the urgency of seeking help from a local exterminator, one must understand the health risks that rodents pose.
Health Risks From Rodents
The fact remains that we rarely see people sick at home from something a rodent brought in, but that does not mean that there are no cases. In fact, according to the Centers for Disease Control, there were over 10 million people reported ill, and many died of the diseases transmitted by rodents over the last century. And if this is true as it is believed, then the importance of highlighting the dangers of rats and mice in and around your property cannot be emphasized more.
Generally, some diseases can be caused as a result of rat bites, scratches, and rat-bite-liver. In addition, the spread of leptospirosis, which can lead to liver and kidney damage, is caused majorly by the urine of the rat. Some other diseases can also be contracted by the handling or inhalation of scat.
Complications may include cardiovascular problems, as well as kidney and liver failure. In addition to the danger of having rats around, there is another infectious disease known as choriomeningitis (LCMV) that can be transmitted through the saliva and urine of the rat.
Below are the diseases which can be directly transmitted by rats:
- Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome: This is a viral disease that is transmitted by rice rats. This disease can be spread via one of three ways; inhalation of dust which is contaminated with urine or rat secretion, direct contact with fecal deposit of rat or urine, or occasionally due to the bite of a rat.
- Leptospirosis: This is a bacterial disease that can be transmitted by direct contact with contaminated water by swimming, moving kayaking, or drinking contaminated water. Individuals may have an increased risk of Leptospirosis if they are working outdoors or around animals.
- Rat-Bite Fever: This disease can be transmitted by bite, scratching, or contact with a dead rat.
- Salmonellosis: Consuming food or water contaminated with rat secretion can cause this disease.
- Lyme disease: Some scientists claim Lyme disease is caused by rats and mice that carry the disease. It was said to be transmitted by the rat bite. Symptoms of the disease include the appearance of skin lesions, fever, and headache.
Other diseases that are indirectly transmitted by rats:
- Black Plague: The black plague, also referred to as bubonic plague, is probably one of the most dangerous diseases in history which is a rat-borne disease. Always on the black list due to the devastation suffered in the Middle Ages which resulted in the death of millions of victims, the disease is transmitted by fleas. On the other hand, fleas contract it in the process of taking blood meals from rats and mice.
- Colorado Tick Fever: The Colorado tick fever is a viral disease and like a plague, it is known to be transmitted by the bite of a tick that has taken a blood meal from a bushy-tailed woodrat.
- Cutaneous Leishmaniasis: This disease is a parasite that transmits to a man as a result of the bite of an infected sand fly that is fed with woodrat.