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The Bukit Batok rat infestation: What you need to know

SINGAPORE — Bukit Batok’s rat infestation problem came to light last week after a video taken by a resident was posted online and widely shared. Pest controllers have been trying to eradicate the rats for nearly a week, and the next phase of monitoring and controlling the situation will take place after Christmas, and is expected to last another two weeks.

Rat infestation spotted near Bukit Batok MRT station on Dec 17, 2014. Photo: Ernest Chua

Rat infestation spotted near Bukit Batok MRT station on Dec 17, 2014. Photo: Ernest Chua

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SINGAPORE — Bukit Batok’s rat infestation problem came to light last week after a video taken by a resident was posted online and widely shared. Pest controllers have been trying to eradicate the rats for nearly a week, and the next phase of monitoring and controlling the situation will take place after Christmas, and is expected to last another two weeks.

Channel NewsAsia asked some experts for their take on the situation, and the health hazards posed by rats.

Q: How worried should the general public be about this rat infestation?

Assoc Prof Richard J Sugrue, Head of the Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology division at Nanyang Technological University:

It is always a concern when rats live close to centres of human habitation, and the colony at Bukit Batok could have serious implications for the people living and working in the area. Rats can carry a variety of different disease causing agents, and these can be transmitted from the rats to humans.

Rats are associated with the transmission of several important infections in humans, including leptospirosis and plague. In South Korea, during the 1970s, the Hanta virus was identified as the causative agent of Hantavirus hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome, and this virus was passed into the human population via rodent urine and faeces.

Therefore, transmission of these disease-causing agents to humans can occur by indirect contact with the rats, such as through rodent faeces and urine.

Being near a MRT station may increase the risk of the spread of infectious agents, since there is a risk that rats can enter the MRT system. This could potentially allow the flow of infected material (e.g. aerosols from infected rat urine) through the MRT underground tunnels, which could have consequences for people living outside the immediate area.

Prof Paul Anantharajah Tambyah, President of the Society of Infectious Diseases:

There are certain diseases associated with rats, but often these are due to the fleas that live on rats rather than the rats themselves. In fact, rats are more a marker of how unhygienic a place is.

Leptospirosis is commonly known as the rat urine disease. Interestingly, there was an outbreak in Bukit Batok Nature Park a few years ago. What happens is — rats carry this bacteria, then they excrete it in their urine. It gets into the surface water, and people running in the water — if you get a cut or something like that and it gets contaminated — then you run the risk of getting leptospirosis.

The other one is murine typhus, spread by the fleas from the rats. The good exterminators know you have to call in the rat specialist and the flea specialist. They are a bit like doctors. They have got different specialists doing different things. Once you kill the rats, the fleas have nowhere to go and they start biting humans, so it has to be a comprehensive approach.

Both diseases are very easily treated with simple antibiotics.

Q: The pest controllers identify the Bukit Batok rats as roof rats, not sewer rats. Is there a difference in terms of the damage these rats can inflict?

Senior Research Fellow Dr Ian Mendenhall and Research Assistant Erica Sena Neves, Laboratory of Virus Evolution, Emerging Infectious Diseases Program, Duke-NUS Medical School:

Actually, the species identified as roof rat in Singapore is not roof rat type species (Rattus rattus), it is the Asian or Oriental house rat (Rattus tanezumi). The Asian house rat is a very good climber, while the sewer rat (Rattus norvegicus) is a ground-dweller and burrows tunnels. Both species are highly adaptable and intelligent, and their propensity to dig and gnaw can cause direct and indirect structural damage to buildings and houses.

We did not examine the animals caught at Bukit Batok personally; therefore we are not able to confirm which species it is.

Q: Is it fair to blame the feeders of stray dogs for the proliferation of the rats?

Dr Mendenhall and Ms Neves:

In highly urbanised cities like Singapore, there are endless sources of food for the rats. Therefore, it is likely there are multiple contributors to the problem.

Q: What should authorities and residents do to prevent this sort of rat infestation from happening again?

Dr Mendenhall and Ms Neves:

It is frequently said that there are as many rats in cities as people, and undoubtedly we will never be able to completely eliminate these animals from urban environments.

However their population size is kept under control by removing the two main elements required for their proliferation: Food and shelter. The primary interventions are to manage the garbage properly by keeping discarded food in tightly closed containers, to cover drains and vents, and to seal cracks and holes.

Trapping around areas where these animals are likely to be found, such as hawker centres and garbage disposal areas, is also useful for monitoring rat populations so that control measures to mitigate infestations can be implemented in a timely manner. Interestingly, it was public awareness that detected this problem and this is increasingly used to augment surveillance. CHANNEL NEWSASIA

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