Tag: rats | WLS-AM 890

IDPH reports six cases of viral illness linked to rats

Jan 20, 2017 | WLSAM Staff

(SPRINGFIELD) Six cases of Seoul virus in people who were directly exposed to rats were reported by the Illinois Department of Public Health on Thursday.

People were contracted the virus at two different Illinois facilities where rats are bred, according to a statement from IDPH. Two Wisconsin residents tested positive for the virus after a rattery in Wisconsin purchased rats from two Illinois ratteries.

Seoul virus is not transmitted from person to person and cannot infect other animals, IDPH said. Diseases that are carried by rodents can only be transferred from direct contact with rat urine or feces. It is a type of hantavirus carried by brown or Norway rats. Only a few cases of the virus have been reported in the U.S.

Symptoms of those infected may include fever, severe headache, back and abdominal pain, chills, blurred vision, redness of the eyes or rash, according to IDPH. Although, not all people infected show any signs of illness. Five of the six cases in Illinois did not experience symptoms.

“The general public is at an extremely low risk. Out of an abundance of caution, we want to let the public know in the event they have recently purchased rats from an affected facility and become ill,” IDPH Director Nirav D. Shah, M.D., J.D. said.

The rats at each facility were tested and those results were pending, IDPH said. Authorities are working to identify others who might be exposed and locate the source of the virus.

Appeals court grapples with unions, free speech, giant rats

Aug 28, 2016 | WLS-AM Staff

Photo Credit: By RoySmith - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21283481 — *Photo Credit: By RoySmith – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21283481*

CHICAGO (AP) — Enormous rats are making their way through the federal court system. But they’re not wet-nosed, living rodents. They’re rubber, inflatable ones.

Unions deploy such rat replicas outside businesses they have disputes with, and Chicago’s 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals this month addressed whether restricting their use violates free-speech rights.

A lower court sided with Grand Chute, Wisconsin, ruling safety and construction ordinances justified the town’s removal of a 15-foot rat outside a car dealership. Chicago’s higher court nixed that finding and returned the case for further litigation.

Appeals court grapples with unions, free speech, giant rats

Aug 27, 2016 | WLSAM Staff

(CHICAGO) Enormous rats are making their way through the federal court system. But they’re not wet-nosed, living rodents. They’re rubber, inflatable ones.

Appeals court Judge Richard Posner partially dissented. He called for a decisive finding the town violated the union’s free-speech rights. He wrote some may find the blow-up rats “repulsive” but that they’re clearly “akin to a political poster,” so constitute protected speech.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.