Rat urine contains proteins that can cause respiratory infections in humans. The proteins are not harmful to rats and other rodents, but if you breathe in the dust from rat urine, it can cause upper respiratory problems.
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.
Rat bites and scratches can result in disease and rat-bite fever. Rat urine is responsible for the spread of leptospirosis, which can result in liver and kidney damage. It can also be contracted through handling or inhalation of scat. Complications include renal and liver failure, as well as cardiovascular problems.
Anyone who comes into contact with infected rodent droppings, urine, saliva, nesting materials, or particles from these, can get hantavirus disease. Exposure to poorly ventilated areas with active rodent infestations in households, is the strongest risk factor for infection.
Is Mouse Urine Dangerous? The urine itself isn't dangerous, and the smell doesn't pose a risk to you or your family — but the viruses that may be hiding in mouse urine or feces can make you very sick.
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.
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.
Overview. Symptoms of leptospirosis start two days to four weeks after exposure. Your symptoms may go away and come back as more severe illness.
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.
Rat urine is responsible for the spread of leptospirosis, which can result in liver and kidney damage. It can also be contracted through handling or inhalation of scat (feces or urine).
See a GP if:
You might have been exposed to infected pee, water, or soil and have: a high temperature, or you feel hot and shivery. a headache. been feeling sick or being sick.
If you do make contact, wash the affected body part thoroughly with soap and water. To clean areas where rats may have been, use one part household bleach and 10 parts water, which kills the leptospirosis bacteria. Wear gloves and goggles.
Baking soda is another great option for removing rat urine. Simply sprinkle baking soda on the affected area and then vacuum it up after a few hours. Baking soda will help to absorb any odors and will also leave your carpets smelling fresh and clean.
The smell of a dead rat can be harmful to a person's health due to the toxic gases and microscopic compounds of the dead animal that are constantly being released into the indoor air.
Previous observations of patients that develop HPS from New World Hantaviruses recover completely. No chronic infection has been detected in humans. Some patients have experienced longer than expected recovery times, but the virus has not been shown to leave lasting effects on the patient.
Rats and mice are known to carry many diseases. These diseases can spread to people directly, through handling of rodents; contact with rodent feces (poop), urine, or saliva (such as through breathing in air or eating food that is contaminated with rodent waste); or rodent bites.
Symptoms of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome appear within 1 to 5 weeks after exposure. The average is 2 to 4 weeks. This disease is extremely serious since about 40% of the people who get the disease die. The disease begins as a flu-like illness.
There is no specific treatment for hantavirus infection. However, if the virus is caught early and the patient receives medical care in an intensive care unit (ICU), they will likely improve.
In the United States, the deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus), the cotton rat (Sigmodon hispidus), the rice rat (Oryzomys palustris) in the Southeast, and the white-footed mouse (Peromyscus leucopus) in the Northeast are the rodents that carry hantaviruses that cause HPS.
Step 1: Put on rubber or plastic gloves. Step 2: Spray urine and droppings with bleach solution or an EPA-registered disinfectant until very wet. Let it soak for 5 minutes or according to instructions on the disinfectant label. Step 3: Use paper towels to wipe up the urine or droppings and cleaning product.
Clean. Rats communicate with each other and attract more rats to the area through their urine and droppings. They leave a trail of urine and droppings, and they leave black greasy rub marks on surfaces they brush up against.
Hantavirus is a rare, life-threatening infection characterized by pulmonary edema, hypoxia, and hypotension. It typically results from exposure to mice feces or urine in the 1 to 3 weeks preceding symptom onset and can result in death within days. It is most common in the southwest United States and South America.
Contact: Touching mouse poop, urine, or saliva before touching your mouth or nose is another way scientists think many people contract the disease. Contaminated Food: Eating food contaminated with the feces, saliva, or urine of an infected mouse or rat can cause someone to become sick.
A mixture of 1½ cups of bleach or Lysol® in a gallon of water is effective at killing the virus. Allow the solution to sit for 15 minutes before cleaning up with a mop or sponge. Spray rodent carcasses, nests, droppings, and other potentially contaminated items and surfaces with bleach or disinfectant.
The hantavirus is destroyed by detergents and readily available disinfectants such as diluted household bleach or products containing phenol (e.g., Lysol®). Choose an agent that is compatible with the item, object or area to be cleaned and disinfected.