Scientists warn of new 'super rats'

[steven johnson]

Looks like we'd better look for the better rat trap.

A new type of "super rat" with genetic mutations that apparently makes it resistant to commonly used poisons is infesting towns and cities across Britain, a scientist warned today.

Pest experts in parts of Britain have noticed an increase in the number of rats who appear to be immune to poisons. Some had believed the resistance was caused by mother rats feeding the poison to their young and inadvertently increasing their immunity.

But researchers from the University of Huddersfield believe a genetic mutation has resulted in the rodents' resistance. Professor Robert Smith, one of the UK's leading experts on rats, said the mutation had been found in rats in parts of Hampshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Swindon and Bristol.

Resistant rats had also been found in East Yorkshire - possibly a result of a different mutation to the ones in the south of England.




http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/may/15/super-rats-infestations

[Taverner]

1. Bobcats in houses, Countries going bankrupt, now GENETICALLY ENGINEERED RATS???

We're doomed dude!

[TZ]

19. not genetically engineered..its a natural mutation

evolution at work.

[jgraz]

2. OMG! They're already here!!!

[drm604]

4. How do you like that?

The mutation makes them orange.

[jgraz]

6. Apparently it also makes them break out in song

Republitards: The Musical.

[xchrom]

8. JAZZ HANDS!!! NT

[juno jones]

10. The Rat Pack.

They're singing 'That Ole Black Magic'.

[drm604]

3. Inevitable.

This is evolution at work, just like antibiotic resistant bacteria. We'll just have to come up with new poisons or better traps.

[kimmerspixelated]

5. No the world's got enough poisons as it is.

Having said that, I don't know what the solution is. Maybe more loose cats pumped up and ready to go!

[drm604]

15. We'd be replacing the old poisons, so there wouldn't be an increase in the poisons being used.

Rats carry disease. They need to be controlled. Not everyone can keep cats.

[TZ]

18. +1

We don't need an increase of bubonic plague from rats.

[dmallind]

7. Nobody tell James Herbert

If the bugger gets proven right after his afterword in that horror story warned us about this he'll start writing more of them!

[semillama]

9. Jello Biafra predicted this a while back

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94Sc0VimJKY

[FiveGoodMen]

11. ...Carrying Swine Flu!

[TheWraith]

12. What do you expect? Natural selection at work.

When you kill off large chunks of a population wholesale, you produce a tremendous selection pressure on the rest to adapt to whatever method you're using to kill them.

[centristgrandpa]

13. genetics and the catch-22 syndrome.

This problem doesn't surprise me at all, look at the hiv virus and the common cold. Everything dealing with antibiotics and the new strains of cooties is incomprehensible, scary is an understatement.

[Aviation Pro]

14. Ratatouille my ass....

....

[Orrex]

16. Fortunately, scientists are hard at work on a solution

Read about it here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x8774651

[Ganja Ninja]

17. Silly Scientists.

That would mean the rats are evolving and everybody knows that evolution is just liberal claptrap. :shrug:

[Phoonzang]

20. There's always a solution....

A shot from 200 yards can disassemble a mutant rat at a molecular level. No problem.

[phantom power]

21. I wonder if they'll spread super antibiotic resistant plague.

[TZ]

22. thats what worries me.

But it seems unlikely that both rat and flea will evolve together.

[phantom power]

23. I'm not sure they have to evolve together. Independently may do just fine.

The genes for antibiotic resistance have shown up in bacteria pretty much everywhere. Insects evolve pesticide resistance pretty rapidly. At some point, if we fall behind in the poison/antibiotic arms race, we will end up with the pieces of the puzzle in all the same place and time.

At that point, public sanitation would be about all that stands between us and a recurrence of plague.

Maybe that's too gloomy. I'm not an epidemiologist.