Less money, more rats

The Chisinau City Hall has started an investigation in response to a recent case in which a seven-month-old girl was bitten by a rabid rat, Info-Prim Neo reports. The municipal authorities blame the scarcity of the budget for the generally poor pest management: this year the pest control budget was cut by almost a third to some 700,000 lei ($62,650). “It's a much smaller sum than what was spent in previous years on such purposes”, said housing division head Petru Gontea. Ion Cebotari, the city's deputy chief epidemiologist, said the allotted money would barely suffice for a single instance of pest treatment at the worst affected addresses. “The rodents reproduce 6 to 8 times a year and, for a better efficiency, there is need for at least five rounds of pest treatment per year. But in recent years smaller and smaller allotments from the municipal budget are being made for such purposes and our efforts are virtually in vain”, complained Cebotari. The bitten girl is now undergoing a 16-day anti-rabies treatment. She lives with her family in a house on Bucuresti Street, in the heart of the capital, and only one address on that street is included in the pest control program this year.