The process or program of removing rats from buildings, ships, cities, or other areas through systematic pest control.
From 'derat' + the suffix '-ization' (forming nouns describing processes or systematic actions). This emerged in the 20th century as a formal term for public health campaigns against rat infestations.
Deratization' sounds like a medical procedure from sci-fi, but it was a real, urgent public health crusade—cities hired special 'deratization squads' in the 1940s-50s to save people from plague and typhus spread by rats.
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