Diseases from Mouse / Mice

Mice Harmful or Dangerous

Having mice in your home or business can be both harmful and dangerous. Mice must gnaw constantly. Their teeth never quit growing so they must continually wear them down to keep them usable. This propensity for chewing can lead to them creating holes in walls and in extreme cases causing structural damage to a building. Beyond this they have been known to gnaw holes in pipes causing water leaks and even worse their munching on electrical wires can lead to short circuits and create the very real risk of an electrical fire.

These are just a few ways that mice can cause harm and be dangerous to buildings themselves. The truly scary part is the health risks mice can present to you, your family, your clients, and your employees. While most people aren’t aware of it, you do not have to suffer a mouse bite or even have direct contact with the mice themselves to be at risk of contracting some very serious and even life-threatening illnesses.

Diseases that people can catch directly from mice

Simple having contact with the waste from an infected mouse, breathing dust contaminated with their urine, feces, or saliva, consuming food or water they have tainted, or possibly even walking through a puddle of water polluted with their waste is sufficient exposer to contract many diseases. Here is a far from a comprehensive list of the more serious illnesses that mice can directly transmit to humans.

Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome

HPS is an often fatal viral infection that people can contract when they breathe in particles contaminated with the virus. In the majority of cases, this occurs when people stir up dust that has been tainted with saliva, feces, or urine from infected mice.

Its early symptoms always include soreness in the large muscle groups, fever, and fatigue but can include abdominal problems, headaches, chills, and dizziness. As the disease progresses coughing and shortness of breath develop as the lungs fill with fluid.

HPS has a mortality rate of 38%.

Leptospirosis

Leptospirosis is a bacterial infection that people contract from eating food or drinking water contaminated with the urine of a carrier animal. People can also become infected if their skin or mucus membranes come in contact with soil or water that is corrupted with mouse urine.

The symptoms of Leptospirosis are highly variable and, in some cases, there are none at all making it very difficult to diagnose. Left untreated, the bacterium can cause kidney damage, liver failure, meningitis, and death.

Lymphocytic Chorio-meningitis (LCM)

LCM Is caused by the lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) which it is estimated that 5% of the House Mouse (Mus musculus) population in the United States is infected with. It is a neurological disorder characterized by fever, muscle aches, headache, lack of appetite, malaise, nausea, and vomiting in its early stages. As it progresses meningitis, encephalitis, and/or motor abnormalities may develop.

LCM is generally not fatal with a mortality rate of less than 1% but it can lead to permanent nerve damage in those infected.

Salmonellosis

The Salmonella bacteria is carried by many animals including mice. It is most often transmitted to humans when people contact areas contaminated with or eat food tainted with the urine or feces of infected mice.

Though rarely fatal it does cause severe stomach distress and flu-like symptoms including fever, chills, and muscle aches.

Diseases That Are Indirectly Transmitted By Mice

These are just a few of the 35+ disorders people can catch from being in the same environment as mice. A completely different set of concerns become involved by what is called secondary vectors. Mice are prone to be infested with ticks and fleas that can provide a completely different pathway for people to become infected with diseases.

Lyme Disease

The most common vector-borne disease in the United States Lyme Disease is spread to humans when they are bitten by an infected black-legged tick. Symptoms can include migraines, fever, fatigue, headache, and a distinctive skin rash called erythema. Left untreated Lyme Disease can affect the heart muscle, joints, and central nervous system.

Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (RMSF)

One of the deadliest tick-borne diseases in the United States RMSF is transmitted when infected ticks bit a human and transmit the Rickettsia rickettsi bacteria to them. Its symptoms include fever, headache, lack of appetite, muscle pain, nausea, rash, stomach pain, and vomiting. Due to its severe nature immediate medical care should be sought if you believe you may have been bitten by a tick infected with RMSF.