Rats are seen as unsanitary, but mostly harmless since they often like to 
take refuge in sewers, dumpsters, and junk yards. However, if they make their way into your home, there is cause for alarm. Apart from damaging the interior of your home with their sharp front teeth, rats can spread some nasty, and potentially fatal, diseases.
Recently 3 cases of leptospirosis have been reported in the Bronx, one of which became fatal. This rare disease is transmitted through rat urine and can cause acute kidney and liver failure. Health officials recommend that if you are in an area where rats may be present, that you thoroughly wash your hands and always wear shoes. You can read more about it in this New York Times article.
In Your Home
If rats have infiltrated your home, the situation requires immediate attention. Rats wandering around your home could leave urine virtually anywhere, tracking it all around your home with their little paws. To prevent the spread of diseases, it is important that you call a professional trained in handling and removing rodents from populated areas. When you allow rats or other rodents to stay in your home for extended periods of time, you are exposing you, your family, and your pets to other diseases like:
- Rat-bite fever
- Salmonellosis
- Hantavirus
- Plague
- Colorado Tick Fever
- Cutaneous Leishmaniasis
What to Do
As soon as you see signs of rats in your home like scurrying sounds in the walls or ceiling, oily marks on your baseboard, droppings or urine, or chewed wires or wood, call the professionals at Critter Control® serving Fort Lauderdale immediately. Our professionals are trained in swiftly and effectively removing all rodents from your home, and keeping them out by sealing all of their entry points. Don’t put you and your family at risk, call us today at 954-467-6067 for your free consultation.