Rats are one of the tiniest New Orleans animals.. They live near human buildings, farms, garbage dumps etc. They do not bite but sometimes they do so and before biting they will warn you beforehand. They live usually in large groups. They are also live with humans in their homes as a pet. They can easily get in to any place because they need very small space for that. They are not aggressive animals. Biting would be the last option for them. Some rats may show aggression if they are having any neurological problem such as tumor etc. They may bite if they are in pain for example if their tail is being cut or any other injury. There are different types of rats and among them wild Louisiana rats are those which can bite. There are relatively rare.

They bite on those areas of body which are exposed during sleep. It can be your hands, cheeks, fingers, arms, feet etc. Their bites usually do not cause any infection. Women are considered to be more bitten by rats as compare to men. 51.5 % women vs. 48.5% men according to the report of “Child et al. 1998”. If we see New Orleans rat bites cases according to age, usually children of the age of 5 or below 5 or may have some mental or physical disability such as psychiatric disorder, open wound, diabetes etc are targeted by rats. Most of the people who are bitten by the rats are sleeping when they are attacked. According to the report of “Hirshhorn and Hodge” most of the attacks occur from May through August. Most of the wounds are single and double punctures, around 14% are lacerations, 5% are bruises, 6% are simple bleeding in the skin which is also known as ecchymosis. They do not spread any infectious diseases. There is no case of a person being reported who admitted after being bitten by the rat. The diseases transmit by rat bite are also very rare, however there are some cases of rabies being transferred by rat bites in Poland in 1995 and in Israel, Surinam and Thailand. There is no such case being reported in USA.According to the report of Hirshhon and Hodge most of the attacks occur between midnight and 6am.

There are some rats that are capable of transmitting lethal diseases such as in 2010; Andy Holmes who was an Olympic gold medal winning rower got killed because of Weil's disease. It is such a disease which can cause by through contact with Louisiana rat's urine. Viral hemorrhagic fever can also transmitted by rat bites. It is such as disease which can cause blood loss and even death.

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