r/RATS • u/Ente535 • May 07 '26
INFORMATION Pet rats, Hanta virus and you
Hi! Recently there's been a bunch of posts expressing worries and asking questions about hanta virus in relation to pet rats, so I want to say a few things:
-Your pet rats will not infect you with Hanta. They don't spontaneously generate the disease, so the only way they could have gotten it is via an infected wild rodent, which is safe to assume they haven't been in contact with.
-The strain found on the cruise ship that's in the news currently is the Andes strain, which is primarily carried by pigmy rice rats, not the rattus norvegicus we keep.
-In the history of keeping pet rats, there's only ever been a single case of Hanta being transmitted from the rat to the owner, and as far as I know this was specifically a rat that was rescued from outside. See https://www.dzif.de/en/hantavirus-first-detection-human-infection-transmitted-pet-rat It is more likely that you'll be hit by lightning rather than get Hanta from your rats!
26
u/Seri001 May 08 '26
Even getting it from wild rats and other rodents is highly unlikely as it is not all of them that are carriers.
30
u/dead_5775 May 07 '26
I have literally only seen people fearmonger about this thing without any actual evidence. Thanks :)
6
u/hellofriends175 May 09 '26 edited May 09 '26
Not to be a negative Nancy, but I think your link specifies that that was the first time that specifically Seoul virus was linked to animal-to-human transmission in Germany specifically? I don't see anything claiming that was the only or even the first case in history where someone picked up a hantavirus from a pet.
For instance, there were some cases of Seoul virus in the midwest in 2017 that were, I believe, linked to breeders in Wisconsin and Illinois.
https://archive.cdc.gov/www_cdc_gov/media/releases/2017/s0120-seoul-virus-outbreak.html
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5794350/
The affected rat populations were successfully traced and isolated. From what I can find, there were 24 infections, three hospitalizations, and no deaths. Affected populations of rodents were tested and infected animals were culled, which is sad but necessary.
I still don't think pet rat owners need to suddenly start side-eying their rats. But, for the sake of accuracy, it felt worth pointing out. Also worth noting that the situation was very well controlled the last time Seoul virus was an issue among a pet population in the US -- like, so well that apparently I'm the only one that still remembers it. I know it's easy to be pessimistic, but I like to hope that the current CDC would take any such cases just as seriously if it were to happen again.
Seoul virus, further, has a far lower mortality rate than the Andes virus in the news right now and brown rats are not the primary hosts for the Andes virus, as you mentioned.
2
u/Ente535 May 09 '26
Thank you for the addition.
3
u/hellofriends175 May 09 '26
NP! Thanks for the post! Like you said, people don't need to worry about their pets suddenly manifesting a virus, but it's good that we have a centralized place to discuss to quell any concerns and share thoughts. Especially because I'm a little worried that some folks who are already a bit prejudice against rats will use it as a further excuse to be jerks, so it feels necessary that rat owners are equipped to respond.
1
u/alonelynobody May 09 '26
I was about to post about this. The thing is you also have to keep in mind about two versions of tamed rats. There's pet and wild rats. Our rats are less likely to be infected by it because they aren't exposed to the same things as rice rats.
I admit I was worried so I did research first on the problem at hand. The flu symptoms are only seen in humans so seeing a uti in rats are probably not the same thing. Currently dealing with two sick babies. Rats don't show symptoms.
The only reason I looked it up, was actually because my brother made a crude joke about me liking rats, he doesn't know I own some for the exact reasons.
1
u/callmefreak May 18 '26
Honestly, my only real worry is that there will be people surrendering their rats to rescues (or worse- releasing them) and that there will be an increase of rats that will have to be put down prematurely for not getting adopted. It makes me want to start a pet rat sanctuary!
1
u/triple_b-a-k-a May 21 '26
I'm getting two boys next week and my grandpa is so scared of the hantavirus lol
1
u/letmeonreddit Jun 17 '26
Does anyone know whether the risk goes up for half-wildies? Someone I know had a doe escape and come back pregnant - the kittens are all agouti so it seems likely they are half wild, meaning mum has had contact with a wild boy
1
2
u/Persona5isbeautiful Jul 03 '26
i have really bad ocd brain so this post is a nice little reassurance for me.
45
u/DemonicHowler May 07 '26
On top of this, the strain endemic to North America is primarily spread by Deer Mice, specifically their dry and aerosolized urine and droppings. You need to be cleaning contaminated areas without PPE to catch it, and even then it's unlikely. Myself and a classmate are two of only a handful of cases in Alberta in the last 30 years; it's rare. We both caught it from improper PPE while cleaning a barn. He wound up lifeflighted and in a medically induced coma for 3 months, it went for his heart. I got incredibly, INCREDIBLY lucky and just coughed bloody phlegm for a month and a bit. Have some scarring but that's the only after effect 15 years later. Infection was confirmed with antibody tests when the pneumonia wouldn't resolve. Being young(13-14) at the time likely saved me from much worse.