Rats Bites and Treatments
Species
Rat Bites and Treatment
Bites are the least common way rats make people sick. Most of the risk comes from what they leave behind: urine, droppings, and the fleas and mites living on them. Illnesses linked to rats include leptospirosis, salmonella food poisoning, rat-bite fever and flea-borne (murine) typhus. Plague often comes up too, but in the United States it occurs in wild rodents in western states, not in Florida.
The Three Biggest Threats From Rats
Most people hear rats before they see one: scratching overhead at night, rustling inside walls, or squeaks from the attic. Droppings on shelves, chewed food bags and greasy tracks along beams confirm it. Once inside, rats raid pantries, chew through drywall and wiring, and shred fabric and insulation to build nests.
If a Rat Bites: First Aid and Warning Signs
Rat bites are uncommon. Most happen when someone handles or corners a rat, or is bitten by a pet rat. A bite usually leaves one or more small, deep puncture wounds that may bleed, with some swelling and pain around them.
First aid:
- Wash the wound right away with soap and running water, then cover it with a clean bandage.
- See a doctor or urgent care the same day. Animal puncture wounds carry a real risk of infection, and your provider may recommend antibiotics or a tetanus booster.
Watch for rat-bite fever. This bacterial infection can follow a bite or scratch, or less often contact with contaminated food or water. Fever, vomiting, headache, muscle pain, joint pain or swelling, and a rash usually show up within a few days to about three weeks, even if the bite has already healed. It is treatable with antibiotics but can become serious if missed, so mention the rat when you seek care.
Rabies: rats are rarely infected and have not been known to pass rabies to people in the United States.
Cleaning up safely: do not sweep or vacuum droppings or nesting material dry, which can stir up contaminated dust. Wear gloves, soak the area with a disinfectant or diluted bleach, then wipe it up with paper towels and bag the waste. Dogs can catch leptospirosis from water or soil contaminated with rat urine, so ask your vet about vaccination. For removal steps, see how to get rid of rats.
1. Chewing
Property damage and fire risk: A rat’s incisors grow throughout its life, so it has to keep gnawing to wear them down. Wood is a frequent target, but rats also chew through plastic plumbing, flexible AC ductwork, insulation, drywall and sometimes soft metals such as aluminum. Wiring is the dangerous one. Stripped insulation can short a circuit or start a fire, and the damage is usually hidden in an attic or wall where nobody notices until something fails. Chewed ductwork also leaks cooled air into the attic, which shows up on the power bill during a Florida summer.
2. Contamination and Disease
Rats and the parasites they carry are tied to several illnesses, including leptospirosis, salmonella, rat-bite fever and flea-borne typhus.
Droppings and dust: Rats leave droppings and urine wherever they travel. As droppings dry and crumble, the dust can be stirred into the air during cleaning or when stored boxes get moved. Rodent hair, dander and urine proteins are also known allergy and asthma triggers, especially for children. The cleanup steps further down this page explain how to handle it safely.
Salmonella: These bacteria pass from rats to people through food, counters and water fouled by rat droppings. Many cases are never traced back to a rodent. Symptoms include diarrhea, fever and stomach cramps, usually starting within six hours to a few days after eating contaminated food. Throw out any food a rat may have touched.
3. Parasites
Rats carry fleas, mites and sometimes ticks. These feed on the rat but can move to people and pets, especially once the rats are gone.
Rat fleas: The oriental rat flea lives on rats and feeds on their blood. It can spread murine typhus to people when infected flea droppings get rubbed into bites or scratches. It was also the main carrier of plague in historic outbreaks such as the Black Death in medieval Europe. Removing rats without dealing with their fleas can leave hungry fleas looking for a new host.
Rat mites: The tropical rat mite is tiny, about the size of the period at the end of this sentence. It lives on rats and in their nests. When the rats die or are removed, the mites leave the nest and roam the house looking for a meal, and they will bite people. The bites cause itchy red bumps and irritated skin that are easy to mistake for bed bug bites. These mites are most often found with roof rats, but they also turn up with Norway rats and house mice. Removing old nests during cleanup helps prevent this.
Rat Species
Rat Species
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