Parents concerned over growing number of rats

RATS: Rat urine is responsible for the spread of leptospirosis

Flickr / irri photos

A group of parents in Colonia de Sant Jordi have voiced their concern over the growing number of rats seen at the local public school in the past few days.

“In the last couple of weeks the schoolchildren have seen big rats running around in the playground and they have even seen them coming out of the bins,” warned the parents.

Rats and mice had already been seen in the school during the summer and even in some of the classrooms, they said. Parents are especially concerned about the risk of Leptospirosis, a bacteria-caused infection otherwise known as field fever or rat catcher’s yellows that can cause muscle pains, fever, headaches and even bleeding from the lungs or meningitis in severe cases. The bacteria are known to multiply in the liver, kidneys and the central nervous system. Person-to-person transfer, however, is rare.

“Everyone knows that rat urine contains toxic substances that can even be deadly because of bacteria and microorganisms,” they remarked.

Some of the parents have stopped taking their children to school and wrote a letter criticising the new school board, AMPA and ses Salines Council for their ‘negligence, neglect and apathy in the face of such lack of control and indifference.’

Furthermore they called upon the Education and Culture and the Health Department to coordinate efforts to tackle such a serious health problem.

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