Forum home Wildlife gardening
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

Can you garden in a wildlife friendly way and not have rats?

1246

Posts

  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    Not really, anywhere rats live and therefore pee. I looked after a publican, who had rats in his cellar.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • According to the HSE factsheet Weil's Disease is extremely rare in the UK with only around 50 cases per year, some of which were acquired abroad.
  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    edited October 2022
    Well if that is true, I must have treated more than my fair share and seeing as it is not a notifiable disease, they are unlikely to have the numbers. 
    I am interested as to why people seem to be minimising the risks of Weils disease, which whilst rare, can be fatal and leads to a horrible death, in multi system organ failure, bleeding from all orifices.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096

    Leptospirosis is spread in the pee of infected animals – most commonly rats, mice, cows, pigs and dogs [...]. usually during activities like kayaking, outdoor swimming or fishing.


    https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/leptospirosis/


    50 cases a year in the UK

    https://www.hse.gov.uk/agriculture/zoonoses-data-sheets/leptospirosis.pdf



  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    I am interested as to why people seem to be minimising the risks of Weils disease, which whilst rare, can be fatal and leads to a horrible death, in multi system organ failure, bleeding from all orifices.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    edited October 2022
    Sorry @Fire, but that information is wrong, as I have explained.
    I am not sure whether you are trying to play down the risks of a very serious, if uncommon disease, or are in some way disagreeing with me, but having treated several cases, most of them unsuccessfully, I think I know who I would listen to.
    Farmers are another group where it is not uncommon.
    Everyone seems to be an expert these days.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    I'm not claiming to any kind of expert. I'm citing the NHS and Govt stats - via the above links.
  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    But I have explained that because the disease is not compulsorily notifiable, then there are no accurate figures as to the number of cases each year and that doctors who treat these patients know there are far more cases.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • @puncdoc I wasn't trying to play down the risks of having Weil's disease just to assess the risk of catching it. Obviously it is an extremely serious disease and it's common sense to take precautions if you know there are rats around - particularly indoors I should think. However, there are rats in abundance more or less everywhere so being aware of the level of risk is important.

    I accept that HSE may not know about all the cases but presumably most deaths would be reported and these seem to be 3 or 4 a year. 

    I'm also a bit surprised that you say that in most cases the treatment was unsuccessful as the statistics I could find suggest a 5% mortality rate in the UK although it is higher in developing countries.
  • Had a Lepto card all my working life - in my experience simple precautions (appropriate PPE) prevent possible infection. 
Sign In or Register to comment.