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Rat bites and scratches can result in disease and rat-bite fever. Rat urine is responsible for the spread of leptospirosis, which can result in liver and kidney damage. It can also be contracted through handling or inhalation of scat. Complications include renal and liver failure, as well as cardiovascular problems.
Early symptoms include fatigue, fever and muscle aches, especially in the large muscle groups—thighs, hips, back, and sometimes shoulders. These symptoms are universal. There may also be headaches, dizziness, chills, and abdominal problems, such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain.
If you do make contact, wash the affected body part thoroughly with soap and water. To clean areas where rats may have been, use one part household bleach and 10 parts water, which kills the leptospirosis bacteria. Wear gloves and goggles.
Overview. Symptoms of leptospirosis start two days to four weeks after exposure. Your symptoms may go away and come back as more severe illness.
Rats and mice are known to carry many diseases. These diseases can spread to people directly, through handling of rodents; contact with rodent feces (poop), urine, or saliva (such as through breathing in air or eating food that is contaminated with rodent waste); or rodent bites.
The diagnosis of leptospirosis should be considered in any patient presenting with an abrupt onset of fever, chills, conjunctival suffusion, headache, myalgia and jaundice. History of occupational or recreational exposure to infected animals or to an environment potentially contaminated with animal urine.
The risk of acquiring hantavirus is extremely rare, even among people who are consistently exposed to mice and other rodents. The majority of exposures (70%) occur around the home. Hantavirus poses no significant health risk to WSU employees provided that simple precautions are followed.
What are the symptoms of Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome? Symptoms begin one to eight weeks after inhaling the virus and typically start with 3-5 days of illness including fever, sore muscles, headaches, nausea, vomiting, and fatigue. As the disease gets worse, it causes shortness of breath due to fluid filled lungs.
What are the symptoms of hantavirus disease, and how long after infection do they appear? Most often symptoms occur 9-33 days after the virus enters the body, but symptoms can appear as early as one week or as late as eight weeks. Early symptoms are general and include fever, fatigue, and muscle pain.
People who are ill with hantavirus pulmonary syndrome and do not get help quickly may die. Those that survive recover quickly, though full recovery often takes several months.
Any man, woman, or child who is around mice or rats that carry harmful hantaviruses can get HPS. You do not have to already be sick to be at risk for HPS. Healthy people have become ill with HPS.
Step 1: Put on rubber or plastic gloves. Step 2: Spray urine and droppings with bleach solution or an EPA-registered disinfectant until very wet. Let it soak for 5 minutes or according to instructions on the disinfectant label. Step 3: Use paper towels to wipe up the urine or droppings and cleaning product.
Contamination of stored foods with rodent feces and urine may transmit disease to both humans and pets. These contaminated foods may carry diseases such as cryptosporidiosis, toxoplasmosis, leptospirosis, salmonellosis, and listeriosis.
Rat urine contains proteins that can cause respiratory infections in humans. The proteins are not harmful to rats and other rodents, but if you breathe in the dust from rat urine, it can cause upper respiratory problems.
In addition, there are no reports of hantavirus infection in humans in Australia. Hantaviruses routinely establish persistent, non-cytolytic infections in rodent hosts and are maintained in the wild by rodent reservoirs.
However, if the virus is caught early and the patient receives medical care in an intensive care unit (ICU), they will likely improve. Treatment in the ICU is mostly supportive and may include intubation and oxygen therapy, fluid replacement and use of medications to support blood pressure.
The hantavirus is destroyed by detergents and readily available disinfectants such as diluted household bleach or products containing phenol (e.g., Lysol®). Choose an agent that is compatible with the item, object or area to be cleaned and disinfected.
First phase (septicemic phase): About 5 to 14 days after infection occurs, fever, headache, sore throat, severe muscle aches in the calves and back, and chills occur suddenly. The eyes usually become very red on the third or fourth day. Some people cough, occasionally bringing up blood, and have chest pain.
Weil's disease is a form of a bacterial infection also known as Leptospirosis that is carried by animals, most commonly in rats and cattle. It can be caught by humans through contact with rat or cattle urine, most commonly occurring through contaminated fresh water.
Some infected persons, however, may have no symptoms at all. Without treatment, Leptospirosis can lead to kidney damage, meningitis (inflammation of the membrane around the brain and spinal cord), liver failure, respiratory distress, and even death.
Rats can also carry a viral disease that is released when dried feces, urine or saliva break up. That virus can be inhaled, causing respiratory illness. That's why it is so important to carefully clean up any evidence of a rat or mouse.
Mouse and rat carcasses release a potent odor that can penetrate through air ducts, walls and floors. The stench is so strong that it can cause headaches, nausea, and vomiting.