Rodents – health risk and control measures

Autor/innen

  • Darka Hamel

Abstract

Rodents beside damages they make to stored products and any food also cause health risk to humans and domestic animals. Hazard can be direct or indirect.
Direct hazards to humans are rodent attacks, revulsion, shock or fear due to rodent presence, rodents’ parts found in food, damaged wires gnawed by rodents that can be cause of fire or hurt one.
Indirect hazards include transmission of parasites or pathogens like Salmonella enteritidis and S. typhimurium or fleas transmit plague or murine typhus from infected rodents on humans. Unstable damaged bags and scattered grains may be hazardous to workers in storages.
Different methods might be used to prevent damages or health risk caused by rodents. Beside sanitation measures and rodent proofing important role has application of rodenticides especially at present high populations of rodents. Anticoagulants chlorophacinone, coumatetralyl, warfarin called first-generation compounds, brodifacoum, bromadiolone, difenacoum, difethialone and flocoumafen placed in the second-generation of rodenticides are used for rodent control in most European countries. In some cases carbon dioxide, phosphine and hydrogen cyanide are used for rodent control.

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Veröffentlicht

2010-10-27