Tuesday 10 October 2017

Burmese python’s hungry escapades may have consequences for human health


Date:  October 4, 2017
Source:  University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences

As the large, invasive Burmese python eats its way through south Florida's mammals, the mosquitoes in the area have fewer types of animals to bite. Now, more mosquitoes are drawing blood from a rat that carries a virus dangerous to humans.

One of the only mammals left in the Everglades for mosquitoes to bite is the hispid cotton rat, a rodent which is one of the only known hosts of a mosquito-borne virus called the Everglades virus. The virus causes fever, headache and even encephalitis in rare cases.


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