Early symptoms include fatigue, fever and muscle aches, especially in the large muscle groups—thighs, hips, back, and sometimes shoulders. These symptoms are universal. There may also be headaches, dizziness, chills, and abdominal problems, such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain.
People get HPS when they breath in hantaviruses. This can happen when rodent urine and droppings that contain a hantavirus are stirred up into the air. People can also become infected when they touch mouse or rat urine, droppings, or nesting materials that contain the virus and then touch their eyes, nose, or mouth.
Anyone who comes into contact with infected rodent droppings, urine, saliva, nesting materials, or particles from these, can get hantavirus disease.
As the name suggests, Rat Bite Fever is spread when a person has been bitten by a rodent who is infected, has handled an infected rodent (even when no bite or scratch occurs) or has consumed the bacteria in some form. Symptoms include: fever, skin rash, headaches, vomiting, rash and muscle pain.
There are disease concerns with both wild (rats, mice) and pet (rats, mice, hamsters, gerbils, guinea pigs) rodents and rabbits. They can carry many diseases including hantavirus, leptospirosis, lymphocytic choriomeningitis (LCMV), Tularemia and Salmonella.
Rats can also carry a viral disease that is released when dried feces, urine or saliva break up. That virus can be inhaled, causing respiratory illness. That's why it is so important to carefully clean up any evidence of a rat or mouse.
Although the length of time hantaviruses can remain alive and able to infect other people (infectious period) in the environment varies. The virus may remain infectious for 2 to 3 days at room temperature.
In most recorded cases, symptoms develop 1 to 8 weeks after exposure. Early symptoms, such as fever, dry cough, body aches, headaches, diarrhea and abdominal pain, are similar to many other viral illnesses.
Clean up all rodent urine, droppings, nests, or dead rodents. Mop hard floors or spray outbuilding dirt floors with disinfectant. If exposed insulation is contaminated with urine and droppings, place it into plastic bags for removal. Clean hard surfaces such as countertops, cabinets, and drawers with a disinfectant.
Because exposure to rat feces and urine can lead to dangerous and life-threatening infections, use extreme caution when cleaning. Inhaling particles from rat droppings can cause diseases like hantavirus, so be very careful not to clean up the droppings in a way that kicks up dust, like sweeping or vacuuming.
The risk of acquiring hantavirus is extremely rare, even among people who are consistently exposed to mice and other rodents. The majority of exposures (70%) occur around the home. Hantavirus poses no significant health risk to WSU employees provided that simple precautions are followed.
Hantavirus infection can have no symptoms or cause mild to severe illness. Fever is the most common symptom in all three types of disease and lasts about 3-7 days.
Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS) is a severe, sometimes fatal, respiratory disease in humans caused by infection with hantaviruses. Anyone who comes into contact with rodents that carry hantaviruses is at risk of HPS. Rodent infestation in and around the home remains the primary risk for hantavirus exposure.
Immunohistochemistry (IHC) IHC testing of formalin-fixed tissues with specific monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies can be used to detect hantavirus antigens and has proven to be a sensitive method for laboratory confirmation of hantaviral infections.
Mouse droppings carry and can transmit several harmful diseases. Two of the most common illnesses are Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome and Salmonella. Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS) – This disease is particularly dangerous because it not only spreads through direct contact with rodent feces but also through the air.
Diseases Spread by Mice and Rats
Avoid touching your nose, ears, or mouth, and always wash your hands (even with protection) once you're done. Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome is a respiratory disease caused by stirring up air contaminated by rodent feces. (Avoid sweeping up droppings!)
For those who frequently handle or are frequently exposed to rodents in rural areas (such as mammalogists and pest control workers), CDC recommends wearing either a half-mask air-purifying (or negative-pressure) respirator or a powered air-purifying respirator (PAPR) with N-100 filters.
Mouse and rat carcasses release a potent odor that can penetrate through air ducts, walls and floors. The stench is so strong that it can cause headaches, nausea, and vomiting. As it turns out, there are two main culprits: decomposition and bacteria.
Seoul hantavirus and other germs like Salmonella, Giardia, and rat bite fever can be spread through the urine, feces, and saliva of recently infected rats. When caring for a pet rat, it is important to keep the animal's cage and environment as clean as possible.
Treating HPS
There is no specific treatment, cure, or vaccine for hantavirus infection. However, we do know that if infected individuals are recognized early and receive medical care in an intensive care unit, they may do better.
The diagnosis of leptospirosis should be considered in any patient presenting with an abrupt onset of fever, chills, conjunctival suffusion, headache, myalgia and jaundice. History of occupational or recreational exposure to infected animals or to an environment potentially contaminated with animal urine.
Early symptoms include fatigue, fever and muscle aches, especially in the large muscle groups—thighs, hips, back, and sometimes shoulders. These symptoms are universal. There may also be headaches, dizziness, chills, and abdominal problems, such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain.
Health Threats from Rodent Infestation
Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS): an often deadly disease transmitted by rodents through urine, feces, or saliva. Humans can contract the disease when they breathe in dried, aerosolized secretions.