HEALTH NOTES

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 556, 8 January 1929, Page 2

HEALTH NOTES

THE RAT MENACE TO HEALTH (Contributed by the Department of Health.) Public health authorities evert, where recognise the increasing sam. tary and economic menace of the raj As the active agent in the spread of bubonic plague, the rat is responsible for the almost world-wide prevalence of this disease, which, during tie twenty-year period ended in 1923 killed over 11,000,000 people in India alone. They create also great econo mic disturbance by the destruction of food and property. Notwithstanding the depredations of rats, resulting in considerable financial loss, the general public are inclined to view the situation with complacency. This leads, inevitably, states our overseas bullatin, to the conclusion that mankind is either unaware of the teeming rat life and its effects unon the body politic, or is completely indifferent to the dangers and to the cost of feeding and providing recreation lor these para sitic rodents. RAT DESTRUCTION To combat the rat successfully man must become familiar with its habits of living and breeding and know its dietary preferences. In the age-old fight for survival, the rat has learned lessons of sagacity, patience, and agility which fit well for a contest in which man must exercise his ingenuity to the utmost if he would win. MEASURES OF ATTACK Direct measures of attack have but a limited usefulness in the hands of the public. Trapping with snap or cage traps, the use of poison baits, the aggression of such natural antagonists as dogs, cats, ferrets, weasels, etc., and fumigation with poisonous gases, all may be resorted to: but with the exception of trapping, they cannot be recommended for use by the inexperienced householder. Rat suppressive measures, if universally prosecuted, will do more to make life hazardous for the pest than the application of destructive agents. The most effective suppressive measure is to separate the rat from its customary food supply This procedure should be followed in most scrupulous detail in the home, the place of business, and wherever foodstuffs are stored or handled. Bulk foods in the home should be kept in rat-proof containers, and every occupied residential premises should be equipped with a rat-tight garbage can. Garbage dumps should be eliminated from every community, and garbage and offal from slaughterhouses should be burned. HABITS Rats require safe cover when carrying on their ordinary affairs, and the elimination of hiding-places makes life more difficult and dangerous. The brown rat prefers to live at or below the level of the ground, and the female will burrow beneath plank flooring or concrete paving with exposed edges to find a safe location for the nest. The roof rat and the black or “ship” rat look for double walls and dusty attics, wherein they find protection from their arch enemy, the more ferocious but less agile brown or “sewer” rat. The elimination of the hiding-places customarily frequented by these animals restricts breeding to an extent second only to starvation, so it will pay the public well to keep the rat on the run. In residential and other shore structures, and in sea-going vessels, certain architectural changes and modifications are necessary effectually to prevent the rat from finding the quiet harbouring places essential for its welfare. The elimination of such harbourages, together with the permanent blocking or protecting of enclosed wall or ceiling spaces, which may not be removed, are measures collectively designated as ratproofingModern sanitation has removed its only legendary claim to virtue —the questionable distinction of being a scavenger. Rats not only cause great economic loss, but spread disease such as plague. The prevention and suppression of plague and other ratborne diseases resolve themselves into a war upon these rodents. The appointment of official rat-catchers is an important step In “.his direction, as the introduction of plague into a country may lead not only to loss of human life, but to a state of grave economic importance owing to strict quarantine restrictions being enforced. A scarcity of food helps all other suppressive methods. Care therefore should be taken as to the disposal of remnants of lunches in office buildings, and of organic waste generally. A great deal can be done to keep rats in check by making buildings ratproof-