From USA TODAY
The disgusting truth about NYC rats
Rats, rodents, city kitties — call them what you will, but a scurrying furball is as common a sighting in New York City as taxi cabs and lost tourists. But just how disgusting are rats, really? For the first time, a team of researchers has tested rats in Manhattan and catalogued the viruses and bacteria they carry. The verdict is not pretty — or clean. Columbia University researchers spent a year collecting 133 rats. They found that the specimens were carrying food-borne illnesses like salmonella, as well as fever-inducing illnesses. Most alarmingly (and well-distilled by the New York Times), “novel” pathogens and bacteria were discovered — ones that had never been seen before in New York, or to science.
In all my years, I had no idea, Los Angeles had some monster rat problem (people not included). Mice, yes. Rats?
Leila World Blog 
I’ve heard of the NYC rats! They’re huge! Or at least pictures I saw of them.
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