If you have to touch a dead rat or mouse then you should always wear gloves and wash your hands thoroughly afterwards to prevent any infections from spreading.
Diseases Directly Transmitted by Rats
Individuals may be at increased risk of Leptospirosis infections if they work outdoors or with animals. Rat-bite Fever: This disease may be transmitted through a bite, scratch or contact with a dead rat.
The smell of a dead rat can be harmful to a person's health due to the toxic gases and microscopic compounds of the dead animal that are constantly being released into the indoor air. Since most homes are not consistently ventilated, the gases permeate into the respiratory tract and can potentially cause illness.
Rats and mice are known to carry many diseases. These diseases can spread to people directly, through handling of rodents; contact with rodent feces (poop), urine, or saliva (such as through breathing in air or eating food that is contaminated with rodent waste); or rodent bites.
Health Risks of a Dead Rat
When a rodent dies, its body begins to decompose, which can release harmful bacteria and diseases into the air. If you come into contact with a carcass or its bodily fluids, you may be at risk of contracting a variety of illnesses, including hantavirus, salmonella, and leptospirosis.
Rodents such as rats and mice are associated with a number of health risks. In fact, rats and mice are known to spread more than 35 diseases. These diseases can be spread to humans directly through handling of live or dead rodents, contact with rodent feces, urine, or saliva, as well as rodent bites.
Dead rats can start to smell within 24 hours and the smell can last for several weeks. To minimize the smell, the body should be removed and disposed of as soon as possible. The smell of a dead rat can last for several weeks depending on the temperature, humidity, and airflow in the area.
Introduced rodents can: Carry diseases such as leptospirosis and typhus fever. Contaminate food with their hair, droppings and urine, resulting in food poisoning and spoilage.
Do not kiss, nuzzle, or hold rats close to your face. This can startle your rats and also increase your chances of being bitten. Bites can spread germs and can make you sick. You don't have to touch pet rats to get sick from their germs.
Humans exposed to rats carrying rat-bite fever bacteria can get sick even if they aren't bitten. Rat-bite fever causes fever, vomiting, headache, muscle pain, joint pain and rash. It is curable with treatment, but possibly fatal if left untreated.
Deadly Bacteria and Viruses
Coming into direct contact with a live or dead mouse, or its droppings or urine, can be fatal. Mice carry a variety of bacteria and viruses that can harm humans, including: Leptospirosis, which is spread through contact with rat urine and can result in liver and kidney damage or failure.
They can carry many diseases including hantavirus, leptospirosis, lymphocytic choriomeningitis (LCMV), Tularemia and Salmonella. Wild rodents also may cause considerable property damage by chewing through wiring in homes, car engines, and other places.
When a plague-stricken rat dies, its parasites abandon the corpse and may go on to bite humans. Because of rats' role in modern plagues, as well as genetic evidence that medieval plague victims died of Y. pestis, many experts think that rats also spread plague during the Second Pandemic.
They can be disposed of by double-bagging (carrier or bin bags) and putting in your household rubbish bin. It is advisable to wear gloves and/or use a spade to lift a dead rat into the bag.
As dead animals decompose, bacteria that may normally be contained within the animal's body can be released, exposing people to potential disease-causing pathogens.
The risk of acquiring hantavirus is extremely rare, even among people who are consistently exposed to mice and other rodents. The majority of exposures (70%) occur around the home. Hantavirus poses no significant health risk to WSU employees provided that simple precautions are followed.
Disease in people can range from no symptoms/mild illness to kidney problems, headaches, upset stomachs, and in severe cases bleeding from internal organs and the skin. While serious disease is rare, some studies suggest that 34% of pet rat owners will test positive for previous hantavirus infection.
Early symptoms include fatigue, fever and muscle aches, especially in the large muscle groups—thighs, hips, back, and sometimes shoulders. These symptoms are universal. There may also be headaches, dizziness, chills, and abdominal problems, such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain.
The good news is that, contrary to popular belief, rabies is very rarely carried by rats in particular and their bites are unknown to transmit the disease to humans. However, you should always seek medical advice, especially if symptoms such as fever, fatigue, muscle pains, loss of appetite and vomiting appear.
Animals in Australia do not have rabies. Overseas, rabies occurs in mammals including bats, monkeys, foxes, cats, raccoons, skunks, jackals and mongooses. Australian bat lyssavirus occurs in Australian bats. It can be transmitted from bats to humans via a bite or scratch from an infected bat.
Leptospirosis (Weil's disease)
Rats are social creatures, which means that if you find one dead rat, there are likely more living rats somewhere nearby. To help avoid coming across another rat, be it dead or alive, you'll need to take the following preventative measures: Keep up with building repair and maintenance to eliminate entry points.
It may take days or weeks for the carcass to dry out and the odor to naturally and completely disappear. Humidity can affect the process and make the nauseating odor even more intense. So, if a rat dies near steam pipes or other moist areas in your home or car, it may be "ripe" for a long time.
Even after elimination of the source of dead rodent smell, the unsettling scent may linger for up to two weeks. Natural ventilation is necessary to expedite the dissipation of the odor. Opening windows and using electric fans may prove helpful.