The Pied Piper didn’t come to town, but if the Ironton Board of Health and the state’s pest control office’s plans work, Ironton residents may have a few less rodents to worry about.

Saturday, February 16, 2002

The Pied Piper didn’t come to town, but if the Ironton Board of Health and the state’s pest control office’s plans work, Ironton residents may have a few less rodents to worry about.

Charles Kouns, the city’s health department superintendent, said complaints from residents who live in the city’s Edgemont area have contacted the health department about a rodent problem.

Kouns said the Ohio Pest Control has placed bait at five stations along that area’s combination sewer/storm water lines. The bait, which contains an anticoagulant, was placed in the lines last week. Anticoagulants cause death by internal bleeding because the drug prohibits blood clotting.

One possible reason for the rodent problem, Kouns said, is the use of garbage disposals which place small amounts of waste food into the combination sewer lines.

Kouns said the health department is waiting to see what kind of effect the pest control measures have had on the rodent problem.

According to information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Ga., reducing the number of rats involves removing shelter, water and food and, in certain cases, the use of rodenticides.

The CDC recommends that home owners remove piles of lumbar, trash and other rubbish that could be used as shelter by the rodent.

The CDC added that rats have been recognized as carriers of several diseases harmful to humans, including typhus fever, rabies, Trichinosis, plague, infectious jaundice, Salmonella food infections, and rat mite dermatitis.