Sarah
- The term 'prevalence' of Rat-bite fever usually refers to the estimated population of people who are managing Rat-bite fever at any given time.
- The term 'incidence' of Rat-bite fever refers to the annual diagnosis rate, or the number of new cases of Rat-bite fever diagnosed each year.
- a short-lived disease like Flu can have high annual incidence but low prevalence, but a life-long disease like diabetes has a low annual incidence but high prevalence.
- The most common way for people to contract rat-bite fever is by being bitten or scratched by either a wild or domestic rat, or being scratched by an item exposed to rats, such as a cage.
- Occasional cases have been reported among children who live in wild rat-infested homes, but who had no direct rat contact.