How often people get infections from rats in Helsinki?

There has been no previous study on the exposure for rat-borne pathogens in Finland. Most likely the people working in occupations that lead to an exposure to rats are the most likely in the greatest risk. This study, funded by Finnish Work Environment Fund, will target those workers.

The rat control in Finland is based on the premise that it will be done to reduce public health risks caused by rat-borne pathogens. Nevertheless, this risk has never been assessed - and it is poorly understood at anywhere in the world! 

. Based on these results, we know to target the relevant pathogens when we are assessing the exposure in the human population. We will be looking, for example, for the signs of Seoul hantavirus, rat hepatitis E virus and poxvirus infection. 

We will be collecting blood samples in collaboration with our stakeholder groups to understand the exposure in occupations, such as pest management professionals, waste management professionals and cleaning personnel. We will detect relevant antibodies in these samples, which tells us about the past exposure for pathogens.

Based on the results of our study, we are able to assess how substantial risk from rat-borne pathogens is and whether there would be need to do more to mitigate these risks. This could mean for example changing the practices related to personal protective equipment.

The two-year study is funded by and it is lead by the professor in emerging infectious diseases at the Faculty of Veterinary Sciences.