Mutant rats, found in at least two counties in Berkshire and Hampshire, were virtually immune to most poisons and diseases.
Outwardly, they look exactly like ordinary wild rats, but a certain gene was found in their body that made animals very resistant to toxic substances and deadly diseases, while rats were their carriers. A new plague epidemic is around the corner? This is exactly what British doctors are afraid of.
Dr. Alan Buckle of the University of Reading, who led the study of rats from Hanley-on-Thames, said. that in the body of one of the rats they found a whole bunch of dangerous infections, including the causative agent of leptospirosis a- (otherwise, Weil-Vasiliev's disease is a very dangerous acute infectious disease caused by leptospira. stomach, intestines.)
The Ministry of Health believes that it is necessary to develop new deadly poisons for such rats, but a group of conservationists protests against this, believing that this will only worsen the situation and harm many animals that feed on rats and mice and nature itself.
“The more deadly poisons we invent, the more resistant rats become to them, and this can lead to even more tragic consequences,” says Jeff Knott of the British Society for the Conservation of Nature.
Based on materials from dailymail.co.uk