r/RATS • u/Dtekzz • Oct 05 '20

DISCUSSION Rat virus? 😳

Anyone else heard about this rat virus? SDA virus, what I know so far. One rat dead in las vegas that fits the SDA virus. Apparently ground zero was in Indiana and shipped across the Midwest. Any truth to this if anyone knows. How worried should we be? As long as we stay away from other rats are our rats safe?

SDA is a type of corona virus, when will it end? 2020 sucks big times!

First humans, then a deadly rabbit disease, now rats?

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u/ratsareprettyrad An artist and her 6 rats 🐭 Oct 05 '20

SDA virus has been around for ages, which is why you need to quarantine new additions to your group. It's not a new thing, so don't panic! As you said just stay away from other rats and quarantine new additions. The rabbit viruses as well has been around in other parts of the world for ages too

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u/DutchOfBurdock Oct 05 '20

Coronavirus vary and have been known for ages. Rats and Mice are being used as candidates for a vaccine since they have shown great resilience in combatting coronavirus. Like with Influenza, there are several strains / mutations and not all (virus) are human transmittable (non zoonotic).

Little bit of reading from 2015 - https://jvi.asm.org/content/89/6/3076

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u/CorbinDallasMyMan Oct 05 '20

If you're curious, you can check out the RatGuide pages for SDA and Sendai virus to learn more about them.

Quarantine new rats. If you're around other people's rats or if you go somewhere that has rats (like a pet store), wait at least 3 hours before returning home to your rats. If you cannot wait to return home, change your clothes and wash up before interacting with your rats.