In Delta, there are three principal commensal (they live in close contact with humans) rodents that cause issues, the common house mouse, roof or black rat and our #1 rat – the Norway rat (making up 85% of our rats). These rodents cause damages to homes and they harbor and spread disease-causing pathogens to us. They contaminate directly or indirectly through their feces and urine. Direct contact happens when breathing in dust that is soiled with rodent urine or droppings, and bite wounds. Indirect transmission includes insect bites from fleas, mosquito and tick bites. Rodents are responsible for such diseases as: typhus, bubonic plague, hantavirus, salmonellosis, trichinosis, leptospirosis, hemorrhagic fever, rat-bite fever, brucellosis, distemper, leptospirosis, trichinosis and tuberculosis.
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