Re: [tips] Anyone Still Working With Rats?
On Mon, 23 Jan 2017 11:32:21 -0800, Ken Steele wrote: On 1/23/2017 12:15 PM, Mike Palij wrote: A curious outbreak of the Seoul version of the Hantavirus among pet rat breeders in Wisconsin and Illinois has been reported by the CDC. A popular media account is provided by CNN; see: http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/20/health/pet-rats-seoul-virus-outbreak-cdc-bn/ The CDC report can be read here: https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2017/s0120-seoul-virus-outbreak.html I assume that rats being used in labs and professional breeders have enough safeguards to prevent external transmission of the Seoul virus into their colonies but I bet that the CDC and other groups will monitor these groups just in case. I haven't worked with rats in the context of "Rat Lab" (experimental psychology lab) since the late 1980s/early 1990s and I was under the impression that many colleges had stopped using rats or pigeons in psych lab because of the cost of meeting all the federal regulations involving the care and housing of the animals. But if one of the infected pet breeders took a rat lab course or worked in a lab with rats, I expect that could introduce the Seoul virus into these colonies and from there to humans. Mike: That is an interesting question whether an infected human could introduce the hantavirus into a rat lab colony. I could find no suggestions that this could happen and there is no report of a person infecting another person with a hantavirus. See https://www.cdc.gov/hantavirus/hps/transmission.html That's a good site but slightly better ones at the cdc are the following: https://www.cdc.gov/hantavirus/outbreaks/seoul-virus/faqs.html and https://www.cdc.gov/hantavirus/outbreaks/seoul-virus/index.html There appears to be two means of transmission of Seoul hantavirus: (1) Breathing in aerosolized feces or blood or urine or having such material entering broken human skin (i.e., cuts, etc.), and (2) through bites from infected animals. I've looked at some of the epi work on Seoul virus breakouts (China seems to have hotspots, see: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25704595 and https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23840719 ) and it seems that there is no evidence of person-to-person transmission, meaning that exchange of blood, semen, urine, etc. does not transmit the virus. However, I was thinking about a person who was infected and handled a lab rat who bit the person and drew blood. Would there be enough virus in the blood to infect the rat? The human evidence seems to suggest that the answer is no. So, I stand corrected. You are right. Meeting all of the federal regulations involving the care and housing of animals is now a very cumbersome and expensive business. There are several regulations aimed at preventing the hantavirus, specifically, from entering a rat colony. I think that getting rid of rat lab in general is probably a good thing for a variety of reasons (not the least being having to do systematic desensitization to rats for some students) and perhaps limiting them to psychology departments with a strong psychobio/physio/neuroscience faculty. -Mike Palij New York University m...@nyu.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@mail-archive.com. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=50296 or send a blank email to leave-50296-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
Re: [tips] Anyone Still Working With Rats?
On 1/23/2017 12:15 PM, Mike Palij wrote: A curious outbreak of the Seoul version of the Hantavirus among pet rat breeders in Wisconsin and Illinois has been reported by the CDC. A popular media account is provided by CNN; see: http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/20/health/pet-rats-seoul-virus-outbreak-cdc-bn/ The CDC report can be read here: https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2017/s0120-seoul-virus-outbreak.html I assume that rats being used in labs and professional breeders have enough safeguards to prevent external transmission of the Seoul virus into their colonies but I bet that the CDC and other groups will monitor these groups just in case. I haven't worked with rats in the context of "Rat Lab" (experimental psychology lab) since the late 1980s/early 1990s and I was under the impression that many colleges had stopped using rats or pigeons in psych lab because of the cost of meeting all the federal regulations involving the care and housing of the animals. But if one of the infected pet breeders took a rat lab course or worked in a lab with rats, I expect that could introduce the Seoul virus into these colonies and from there to humans. -Mike Palij New York University m...@nyu.edu Mike: That is an interesting question whether an infected human could introduce the hantavirus into a rat lab colony. I could find no suggestions that this could happen and there is no report of a person infecting another person with a hantavirus. See https://www.cdc.gov/hantavirus/hps/transmission.html You are right. Meeting all of the federal regulations involving the care and housing of animals is now a very cumbersome and expensive business. There are several regulations aimed at preventing the hantavirus, specifically, from entering a rat colony. Ken -- - Kenneth M. Steele, Ph.D. steel...@appstate.edu Professor Department of Psychology http://www.psych.appstate.edu Appalachian State University Boone, NC 28608 USA - --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@mail-archive.com. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=50295 or send a blank email to leave-50295-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
[tips] Anyone Still Working With Rats?
A curious outbreak of the Seoul version of the Hantavirus among pet rat breeders in Wisconsin and Illinois has been reported by the CDC. A popular media account is provided by CNN; see: http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/20/health/pet-rats-seoul-virus-outbreak-cdc-bn/ The CDC report can be read here: https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2017/s0120-seoul-virus-outbreak.html I assume that rats being used in labs and professional breeders have enough safeguards to prevent external transmission of the Seoul virus into their colonies but I bet that the CDC and other groups will monitor these groups just in case. I haven't worked with rats in the context of "Rat Lab" (experimental psychology lab) since the late 1980s/early 1990s and I was under the impression that many colleges had stopped using rats or pigeons in psych lab because of the cost of meeting all the federal regulations involving the care and housing of the animals. But if one of the infected pet breeders took a rat lab course or worked in a lab with rats, I expect that could introduce the Seoul virus into these colonies and from there to humans. -Mike Palij New York University m...@nyu.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@mail-archive.com. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=50294 or send a blank email to leave-50294-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
