Fighting to NOT Panic

[NervUs]

We had a mouse infestation in our basement several years ago, and I know we've had a few enter the house since. We just went on vacation for Thanksgiving and laid traps so that we could catch an invasion while gone, and all the traps were empty...so I am assuming no active mouse problem.

Just took out the Xmas decorations, which we have not used in 4 years, and found mouse droppings. EEK. I was in and out of the boxes and think I spread some upstairs, my kids touched items inside (but not the poop).

I have serious OCD about hantavirus, might only be a US/Canada thing, IDK. I guess the veritable poop is out of the bag and there's nothing I can do about it now...

BUt, crap, reassurance would feel good now. It's probably old poop, right? I mean, when we cleaned last time, we didn't go through every box to check and clean. BLech.

[katielovespizza]

I actually had a post about this a few months back! I had a live deer mouse in my house (one of the mice that carries hantavirus). My cats killed it, and my husband took it out to the trash with paper towels and a plastic bag (no mask, no gloves), and then I cleaned up the room (which possibly had fresh droppings in it, with the vacuum cleaner with no gloves or mask, definitely blowing around any particles). I didn't even know hantavirus was a thing until after I cleaned up and I thought about it, and went into a Google frenzy.

Turns out, I was completely fine. Nothing happened to me. And this was an actual mouse and fresh droppings. I'm sure the droppings you came across were old, and it's not even sure that those type of mice can carry hantavirus (only certain ones can). It's sooooo rare that you'd catch it, and even MORE so if they were old droppings (which appears to be the case since you have traps and haven't found mice lately). I really really think you (and your kids) are completely fine.

:hugs:

[NervUs]

Thanks for your reply katielovespizza. My son also loves pizza!!

I am okayish with this one. Still thinking about it, but okayish. I didn't have gloves or mask, either, b/c I wasn't expecting to find poop. Gah.

I guess I have another 5 week wait to get through. Hope we are still here in February lolol!!

[budgie1979]

Ugh, I'm going down the hantavirus anxiety road right now, and it is not fun. I have to get through this week (5 weeks down!), and then I am "clear" as far as my high risk activity goes (I vacuumed up mouse poop, because I'm dumb and didn't realize until afterward that's a bad thing). It's tough, though, because I think it will always be in the back of my mind. We live in an old house (impossible to fill all the little cracks the mice can squeeze through) and have mice at least once a year. Before this year, I didn't realize hantavirus was a possibility in my area (NY) and was pretty casual about cleaning up after them (no gloves or mask when handling mouse traps, I probably vacuumed poop up in the past and didn't give it a second thought). I know there are probably droppings in places that don't get cleaned frequently, like under the couch, in the basement, etc. But I'm sure thousands of people in the US are living with active mouse infestations at any point in time, and hantavirus is still super rare (only 5 cases ever in my state).

Of course, today I feel "off" with a sore throat and lightheadedness. At least sore throat is not a hantavirus symptom, and I don't have a fever. I had muscle aches and chills over the weekend, but my temp never went above 99.4, and I'm guessing I'd be a lot sicker by now if that was the start of hantavirus.

Hope you all are doing okay NervUs.

[NervUs]

So far so good, budgie.

Funny story- the other day, which would have been about a week from stirring up the Xmas decorations, I woke up to the WORST muscle aches all over my back, chest, and torso. I was SURE the hantavirus was starting....but....quickly remembered I had JUST had to shovel out of a really heavy snow (our first big storm of the year) the day before. Pathetic that my brain is always scanning for the worst possible explanation, but it appears that the muscle aches were just a symptom of being desperately out of shape!!!!

Like you, I never gave a second thought to mice until I developed HA. I am pretty sure we do get deer mice coming in, since they have white bellies.

It's a given you will feel under the weather whenever you get a fear like this. It's just the cruelness of the universe at play, lol, and happens to me every time. You know you have been exposed to droppings, so just keep that in mind if you get a cold that is not behaving like colds normally do. You are going to be fine though. I think, if you were going to get sick, it would have happened already (like 5 weeks is on the very tail end) and I really don't think it's that common to get it in a normal housing situation where you clean regularly and open doors and windows, etc. Plus, I don't think there's ever been a case in my state (and only 3 in NY I see)....but, of course, that doesn't stop me. Of course, I think, there has to be a first and why shouldn't that be me????? Stupid catastrophizing. Ugh.