Rodents and Diseases

In the past century alone, more than 10 million people have died from rodent-borne diseases.  Although rodents are not major threats to our everyday health, it is justified to be concerned over the potential for rodents to transmit diseases. By their very nature and design, rodents make excellent “vehicles” for harboring and rapidly transporting diseases.

Pestis or plague is an infectious disease caused by a bacteria carried by rats and spread to humans by insects. Fortunately, at the end of the 19th century, 2 eminent disciples of Louis Pasteur, Alexander Yersin and Waldemar Haffkine, fixed the problem. It was in Hong Kong that Yersin isolated the microbe and developed a serum that successfully cured infected people. And it was in Bombay that Haffkine developed the first vaccine in a place still existing today and called the Haffkine Institute. During the 20th century, the development of antibiotics eventually put an end to plague epidemics.

But this is one of the diseases caused by such rodents; there are many other diseases which need to be looked at too. Let’s take a look at some prominent diseases caused by rodents:

Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne disease in the Northern Hemisphere. It is transmitted to humans by the bite of infected ticks belonging to a few species of the genus Ixodes (“hard ticks”). Early symptoms may include fever, headache, fatigue, depression, and a characteristic circular skin rash called erythema migrans (EM). Left untreated, later symptoms may involve the joints, heart, and central nervous system. In most cases, the infection and its symptoms are eliminated by antibiotics, especially if the illness is treated early. Delayed or inadequate treatment can lead to more serious symptoms, which can be disabling and difficult to treat. The carriers are generally all rodents; most commonly deer mice. The mode of transmission for this disease is rodent tick bites. This is a common and widespread tick borne disease in the U.S.

Salmonella (Food Poisoning): This causes intestinal disorders and food poisoning. It is carried by rats and mice. The mode of transportation for this disease is through the feces of these rodents. The World Health Organization estimates that 20% of food is destroyed or contaminated every year by rodents.

Rat-Bite Fever: Rat-bite fever is an acute, febrile human illness caused by bacteria transmitted by rodentsrats or mice in most cases, which is passed from rodent to human via the rodent’s urine or mucous secretions. Alternative names for rat bite fever include streptobacillary fever, streptobacillosis, spirillary fever, sodoku, and epidemic arthritic erythema. It is a rare disease spread by infected rodents and can be caused by two specific types of bacteria. Most cases occur in Japan, but specific strains of the disease are present in the United States, Europe, Australia, and Africa. The mode of transmission of this disease is by the bacteria in mouth and nose of rodent, transmitted via bite or scratch.

Hantavirus(HV) :  Hantaviruses are negative sense RNA viruses in the Bunyaviridae family. Humans may become infected with Hantaviruses through contact with rodent urine, saliva or feces. Some strains of hantaviruses cause potentially fatal diseases in humans, such as Hantavirus hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) and hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS), while others have not been associated with known human disease.

Human infections of Hantaviruses have almost entirely been linked to human contact with rodent excrement, but recent human-to-human transmission has been reported with the Andes virus in South America. The name Hantavirus is derived from the Hantan River area in South Korea, for which Hantaan virus is named. HV outbreak in 1994 resulted in more than 50 death in 17 states.  At least 7 different strains of HV have been identified.

Typhus: This type of disease causes fever, headache, rash, respiratory attack. The carrier for this disease is rats, mice and is transmitted by rat flea bite. Port cities or riverine environments, often serve as havens for rats harboring fleas.

Pox (Rickettsial):

This disease is caused by a house mouse and transmitted via the mites who live on mice. The symptoms which are prominent are lesion followed by fever, headache, and rash. An outbreak of this disease occurred in 1946 in housing developments in New York City which were overrun with mite-infested mice.

The above mentioned are but a few diseases caused by rodents. Now what should be the next course of action? Even if these species are killed the mites etc present on them will eventually cause diseases. The only option is to keep them away from the surroundings. And that is where C Tech Corporation comes into picture.

We, at C Tech Corporation have come up with a unique product called Combirepel™.

Combirepel™ is a non-toxic, non-hazardous and environmentally safe anti-rodent additive for master batches specially developed for a range of polymeric and coating applications including films, pipes, wires and cables. It can be incorporated into nearly all base polymers like HDPE, LDPE, PVC, PE etc. It is also effective in case the target species is birds and other animals.

This product is also available in lacquer and liquid form and can therefore be used for coating application in and around the surroundings to keep the rodents away.

But the best quality of this product is that it works on the mechanism of repellence and not killing. It does not kill the target species i.e. rodents. It just repels them. This will help us in keeping these creatures at bay and at the same time these creatures will still be a part of our ecology. So, this product made on the principle of green chemistry will help us in killing two birds with one stone, well at least metaphorically.

Contact us at technical.marketing@ctechcorporation.com if you’re facing problems with rodents and get best remedies to combat the pest menace.

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