10 Reasons to Love Opossums

[kestrel91316]

18. Not so fast with that silly and dangerous myth.

Opossums carry typhus in some areas. They definitely do here in Los Angeles, where they are part of the suburban life cycle along with cats. http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/acd/docs/bullmurinetyph.pdf

Here's some peer-reviewed research in case you think LA Co Public Health doesn't know what they are talking about:

S. G. Williams, J. B. Sacci Jr., M. E. Schriefer et al., “Typhus and typhuslike rickettsiae associated with opossums and their fleas in Los Angeles County, California,” Journal of Clinical Microbiology, vol. 30, no. 7, pp. 1758–1762, 1992.

F. J. Sorvillo, B. Gondo, R. Emmons et al., “A suburban focus of endemic typhus in Los Angeles County: association with seropositive domestic cats and opossums,” American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, vol. 48, no. 2, pp. 269–273, 1993.

Opossums can and have also been found with rabies here in SoCal also. There is nothing to prevent this from happening elsewhere.

http://articles.latimes.com/1998/may/13/local/me-49343

http://www.wildcarebayarea.org/site/DocServer/CA_Rabies_Control_Report.pdf?docID=1121 See chart on page nine for opossum rabies totals in CA 1991-2000