This article is from the WSSF 2015 AFRMA Rat & Mouse Tales news-magazine.

Studies done by the Vancouver Rat Project in Vancouver, British Columbia, found wild rats are affected by a wide variety of respiratory disease. Some showed severe lung disease including abscesses and tumors while 87% had had inflammation in the nasal cavities and/or trachea and 76% had cuffs of white blood cells around microscopic airways and/or blood vessels. They found the bacteria cilia associated respiratory bacillus and Mycoplasma pulmonis in the majority of the rats tested. Also, roughly half of the rats had Pneumocystis (microscopic yeast) in their lungs. None of the rats had any respiratory viruses. Older rats were infected more indicating the problem was chronic.

Article Sniffles and Wheezes: A survey of respiratory pathology in wild urban rats on Vancouver Rat Project.

Note: Any wild rodents a person brings in for any reason needs to be medicated, treated for parasites, quarantined, and tested as they can bring in infectious diseases to your pet stock or yourself.