TRUE OR FAKE. Do Paris rats pose a threat to public health?

With the garbage collectors’ strike and the waste piling up in the streets of Paris, the rats are likely to swarm. But what to be alarmed according to Anne Souyris, assistant to the town hall in charge of public health. “There is no health risk“, she assured on the set of BFM TV. According to specialists, there would be nearly two rats per Parisian today. According to studies, their number has increased in recent years.

A public health risk?

The Academy of Medicine, during the summer of 2022, spoke of a “real danger to public health“. They identified several pathologies transmissible to humans, such as hemorrhagic fever or hepatitis E. If rat bites are rather rare, because contact with the rodent remains limited, the main danger is its urine, through which it transmits leptospirosis.”It must remain in the sewers, they must not go into public parks, into homes. This is where there is a risk“, estimates Jeanne Brugère-Picoux, member of the National Academy of Medicine and professor at the National Veterinary School of Alfort. Diseases transmitted by rats are therefore very real. If this is not a public health concern major, it is wrong to say that the danger does not exist.