Rodent Disease
Hantavirus is transmitted when people breathe air that is contaminated by feces or urine. Care should be taken when cleaning rooms or homes that have been locked up for extended periods of time.
Rat-Bite Fever caused by a bacteria Streptobacillus moniliformis found on the teeth and gums of many rats. Transferred from rat to man by the bite of an infected rat.
Leptospirosis (Weil’s Disease) causative agent Leptospira icterohemorrhagiae, contracted through contact with water or food contaminated with the urine of rodents.
Typhus is transmitted to humans by infected rat fleas, Rickettsia typhi enter the bloodstream when feces of infected fleas are scratched or rubbed into a flea bite wound.
Plague (Black Death) is known to exist in the western United States. The causative agent is bacteria Yersinia pestis, which is transmitted to man by a flea bite.
Salmonellosis is transmitted to human through food contaminated with rat or mouse feces. It is a common bacterial food poisoning.
Trichinosis is spread by rats and mice to hogs by contamination of their feed with droppings. Man then gets the disease by eating improperly cooked pork that is infected with Trichinella spiralis.
Rickettsialpox is a mild nonfatal disease resembling chickenpox. It is transmitted from the house mouse to man by the bite of the house mouse mite, Liponyssoides sanguineus.
