There
are many factors you need to take into consideration as a parent to ensure that
your home is fully safe for your children. One area that you must pay attention
to is how rats and mice can impact the health and well-being of your children.
In order to fully understand the dangers rodents present if they infest your
home, you must understand the types of diseases that can be caused by rats and
mice. Specifically, you need to understand how these dangerous diseases are
spread.
Some
of the diseases mentioned have not impacted the American public yet.
Nonetheless, because of the nature of the global community, a disease that is
occurring in a more distant country has the very real potential of becoming an
issue in the United States at some juncture in time. The diseases that health
agencies and organizations most seriously focus on when it comes to diseases
spread by rodents include:
- Salmonellosis
- Hantavirus
Pulmonary Syndrome
- Hemorrhagic Fever
with Renal Syndrome
- Lassa Fever
- Leptospirosis
- Lymphocytic Chorio-meningitis
(LCM)
- Omsk Hemorrhagic
Fever
- Plague
- Rat-Bite Fever
- South American
Arenaviruses (aka Argentine hemorrhagic fever, Bolivian hemorrhagic fever,
Sabiá-associated hemorrhagic fever, and Venezuelan hemorrhagic fever)
- Tularemia
Salmonellosis
Salmonellosis
is a bacterium that is spread by rats and mice alike. Salmonellosis infects
people worldwide, including in the United States. This bacterium is contained
in rodent saliva, droppings, and urine. In most cases food or beverages become
contaminated with rodent saliva, droppings, or urine that contain the
Salmonellosis. The bacterium is then passed on to humans. The end result is
better known as salmonella poisoning or food poisoning. Children are at risk
for infection by salmonellosis.
Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome
The
Hantavirus has infected people in the United States for about 25 years.
Historically, the virus was spread by a trio of rodents:
- Deer mouse
- Rice rat
- White-footed mouse
Researchers
and infectious disease experts believe that the virus likely is no longer
constrained to these three rodents. In other words, they believe is likely that
other species of mice and rats are carriers of hantavirus in the United States
today.
Hantavirus
is particularly dangerous for a number of reasons. One of these reasons is the
way in which it is spread. Hantavirus can be spread by:
- Direct contact with rodents
- Direct contact with rodents dropping or urine
- Bites
- Breathing in droppings of dust contaminated by Hantavirus
If
a person becomes infected with hantavirus, the infection ends up causing
hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. Three categories of people are particularly
susceptible to developing hantavirus pulmonary syndrome:
- Children
- Older individuals
- People with compromised immune systems
A
significant number of people die if they contract hantavirus pulmonary
syndrome. Over 30 percent of individuals who contract it will die. There is no
treatment or cure for hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. Those who recover do so
for reasons that medical professionals cannot yet explain.
Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome
Hemorrhagic
fever with renal syndrome is caused by a virus. Historically, the virus has
been spread by one of three different types of rodents:
- Striped field
mouse
- Norway rat (aka
brown rat)
- Yellow-necked field mouse
As
of this time, hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome has not been a health issue
in the United States. Having said that, the possibility does exist that the
underlying virus is already in the country. If that has not yet occurred, the
chances of it one-day infecting people in the United States is very possible.
The countries in which the virus that causes hemorrhagic fever with renal
syndrome commonly are found are:
- Eastern Asian
nations
- Russia
- Korea
- Scandinavian
nations
- Nations in Western
Europe
- Balkans
The
virus that causes this disease is transferred between rodents and humans in a
number of ways that include:
- Direct contact
with rodents
- Direct contact
with rodent droppings or urine
- Bites
- Breathing in
droppings of dust contaminated by Hantavirus
- Direct person-to-person contact (although this currently is rare)
Lassa Fever
Lassa
fever is not yet a disease recognized in the United States. Thus far, it
appears to be restricted to countries in West Africa. Lassa fever results from
a virus that is carried by rats indigenous to that part of the African
continent.
- The virus infects humans in a number of ways:
- Direct contact
with rodents
- Direct contact
with rodent droppings or urine
- Eating food
contaminated with rat droppings and urine
- Bites
- Breathing in
droppings dust contaminated by Hantavirus
- Direct person-to-person contact (although this currently is rare)
Leptospirosis
Leptospirosis
is a disease caused by bacteria that is spread by virtually all types of
rodents, including rats and mice. People around the world are infected with the
bacteria that causes Leptospirosis, including in the United States.
Leptospirosis is spread in two basic ways:
- Eating food
contaminated with rat droppings and urine
- Contact of skin and mucous membranes with soil and water contaminated with the urine of infected rodents and other animals
Lymphocytic Chorio-meningitis (LCM)
Lymphocytic
Chorio-meningitis, or LCM, is caused by a virus carried by the house mouse. LCM
is found around the globe. The virus that causes LCM specifically is spread
through:
- Direct contact
with rodent droppings or urine
- Bites
- Breathing in droppings of dust contaminated by Hantavirus
Plague
Plague
is a disease that has reached epidemic proportions at different times in
history. Indeed, it decimated a significant percentage of the European
population at one juncture in time. Plague is still a disease that people
suffer in parts of the United States and in some other countries around the
world. In the United States, the plague most commonly occurs in the Western
states.
The
plague is caused in one of two ways:
- Contact with an
infected animal
- Bite from a flea carried by a contaminated animal
Rat-Bite Fever
Rat-bite
fever is yet another disease that impacts people from around the world.
Rat-bite fever is spread to humans through a rat bite or scratch. It is also
spread through eating food and drinking beverages that are contaminated by rat
feces or urine.
Due to the diseases that rodent droppings carry, it is recommended that you hire a professional rodent dropping cleaning company to remediate the situation.
Here are some tips on parental controls for anti-virus software.