mites on humans

Question
My daughter has had rats for the past 3 yrs. She came home a few days ago after a vacation and found bites on one of the rats.  She gave the rat a bath and started to feel funny shortly after. Now she has bites on her legs and arms. She thinks that she has mites on her. She has been cleaning the house and doing what she thinks is all possible to rid them.  She can't see any of them and we don't know how the rats got  them.

I'm very concerned for her because she has health issues. Is it possible for this to happen to her and what do you suggest?  She has a family of 5 3 children and two adults. no other pets.

Answer
Although it's rare, it IS possible. The two mites known to bite people on occasion are the Tropical Rat Mite, which produce an itchy red rash around the bite, or the House Mouse Mite, which is very painful and causes very severe itching and skin irritation afterward. If there's only a bite and no skin irritation (other than itching), I'd take a guess that it's fleas instead of mites.

Treat the rats as she normally would for mites - ivermectrin, which can be obtained from the vet or purchased at a tack store in paste form (if these are adult rats, they should be given roughly the amount of a grain of rice, once a week for 3 weeks, continued if necessary at that point); all bedding should be tossed and replaced, and rat food should be frozen before use. Since she has no other pets, she should pull everyone (and the rat) out of the home and systemically treat every room with a flea spray, follow that up by cleaning upholstery and carpets with a steam cleaner, and try to get into the habit of vacuuming daily and removing/throwing out the bag/bucket. She can purchase Sevin dust, which is a powder used as a pesticide, to sprinkle on her carpets and let sit for awhile before vacuuming - that will also help stamp down the bugs.

The life cycle of a flea/lice/mite varies by species, but most are about 10 days - from the time the egg hatches to adulthood and the laying of more eggs. If she can treat/spray/etc. every 10 days for roughly 30 days, she should be able to get a handle on it and break that life cycle.

Best of luck!