Out of all the things that I never ever want to see inside my house or elsewhere, rats probably top that list. Rats are very notorious among people because they are thought to be disease-ridden, food-thieving pests that destroy human properties. What's more, they reproduce very quickly and so the spread of diseases through infestations can get out of hand in the blink of an eye, just as it did in mid-14th century Europe when the Black Death pandemic ravaged through ports, towns, and cities. However, research suggests that the cause of the bubonic plague wasn't actually rats.
Epidemiologists looked at the probability that the spread of the bubonic plague was caused by rats and the parasites that clinged to them, fleas. However, studies have tried to argue that the transmission, demographics, lack of rat corpses, and climate conditions during the time in mid-14th century Europe point to the fact that rats would not have been the likeliest cause of the black death plague, and some researchers have suggested that human fleas and lice were the culprits, as the spread of the disease were more consistent with those as the carriers.
Other researchers have also looked into the behavior of rats in connection with their risk of disease to coincide with these findings. Chelsea Himsworth, a veterinary pathologist and epidemiologist studied rats in Vancouver and found that rats were more likely to stick to one side or the other of alleys which meant that they generally do not spread diseases in the way we perceive. Not only that, but the idea that rats are filthy is actually a misconception as rats were very meticulous when it comes to cleanliness according to one scientist.
So, perhaps rats aren't that bad after all, and not just those we see in cartoons and films.
(Image credit: Joshua J. Cotten/Unsplash)