Do rats bite humans in their sleep?

Rats are known as communal animals, and they love being close to humans. You can find them in and around human buildings, compounds, sewers, cities and even farms. In the cities, you can find rats in the neighborhoods where the socioeconomic status is quite low.

Rat bites are rare, but the actual number can’t be determined because people don’t report them. People can be bitten by wild rats, but the majority of the victims are children. Many bites inflicted by rats happen during the night as the victim sleeps. The rats love biting areas of the body that are left exposed such as fingers and hands. The bites aren’t severe and you can just wash them and you are good to go. The rate of infection of the bites inflicted by the rats is around 2%.

In very rare circumstances, the rats can transmit diseases like rat pox or rat bite fever. In some areas, rats don’t pose a risk of rabies.

One cannot make an estimate regarding the frequency of rat bites. Very few bites are brought in to the medical facilities. Around 40% of bites are reported to the health authorities.

Rat bites are a very rare occurrence even where their population is high. The greatest populations of rats are situated within alleys and very few actually enter homes. Very few people have been bitten by rats, especially in their homes.

It is therefore unnecessary for people to be too wary of rats. One should be able to sleep well at night even if there are rats within the house. Rats will rarely bite you as you sleep. However, there is a lot of damage that can be inflicted by rats within your house. They can chew on literally anything they find because their teeth never stop growing and they need to keep them short to be able to feed. Therefore, if you have a rat problem within your home, you should address the issue as soon as possible.

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