Faculty of Veterinary Medicine Universitas Brawijaya (FKH UB) educates the community of Pucakwangi Village, Babat District, Lamongan Regency regarding the transmission mechanism of disease carried by rats to humans or Rodent Borne Disease, Sunday (15/8/2021).
Based on the results of the questionnaire distributed to the heads of families in Pucakwangi Village, in the area there were many rats found both in the rice fields and in the people’s houses.
The existence of rats as one of the reservoirs of various types of diseases, both zoonotic and infectious can cause health problems.
The coordinator of the activities, drh. Shelly Kusumarini R., M.Si. explained that the ecological system that has been formed dynamically between the community, disease agents and host-reservoir which is rats can cause the complexity of transmission and spread of zoonotic diseases.
There are 60 zoonotic diseases originating from rats, including bubonic plague, leptospirosis, salmonellosis, rat-bite fever, leishmaniasis, chagas disease, omsk hemorrhagic fever, lyme disease, murine typhus, lassa fever, ehrlichiosis, toxoplasmosis and bartonellosis.
“Together with four FKH students, we conducted socialization to the community regarding the mechanism of disease transmission carried by rats to humans,” said Shelly.
In this activity, Shelly and her team also explained that one of the efforts to prevent the transmission of Rodent Borne Disease as well as suppress the rat population in the house or rice fields is to implement the PHBS (Clean and Healthy Lifestyle) system and maintain environmental sanitation, which means closing the gap so that rats cannot nesting.
“Besides, people should not take it lightly if they experience a rat bite, or contact with its urine and feces. If you experience symptoms of headache, feverish, fever and even shortness of breath after contact, then go to a doctor immediately for further treatment, “said drh. Shelly to the community.
We hope that this activity can be useful for the local community as well as a good opportunity to instill a healthier lifestyle as well as cut the gaps in the spread of rats in the house and rice fields. (TIM/ Humas UB/ Trans. Iir).
