Mouse poop fears

**Warning, this story could be triggering if you have virus/bacteria and contamination fears!**

So this story begins back in January. I had made myself salad and while eating it, I found a strange substance on one of the salad leaves. Upon closer inspection, I came to the conclusion that it must be something organic. It was brown and rather longish, and soft, but kind of rubbery (I wasn't able to tear it into smaller pieces with my fingers). So I thought it might have been a piece of a plant or something. But, I also feared that it could be mouse or rat poop. So I googled what that looks like, and it looked somewhat similar, although it was really hard to tell what exactly it was. But of course, while researching mouse poop, I came across the description about hantavirus, a very dangerous virus that is found in mouse feces and that can be fatal for humans. So I was panicking about that for a very long time. Eventually, I had calmed down, as I seemingly hadn't contracted the virus, but this incident was enough for me to develop a salad phobia and I was not able to prepare a salad again up until now.

But of course, I started longing for something green and fresh again and finally prepared a salad a couple of days ago. But this is where my fears have returned. I am pleased to say that this time my salad didn't contain any suspicious substances. But, while making the salad, I used a seed mix that I had last used for my last salad in January. And after preparing this salad, I started ruminating, what if in January I had unknowingly touched the potential mouse poop while washing the salad and then touched this package of seeds afterwards? Of course, I don't remember if I had washed my hands before touching the seeds, but it is possible that I didn't. So, what if some of the virus got stuck on the seed packet, and now I shook it around in my kitchen and infected the food, dishes, tabletops etc.?
The seed package was also kind of dusty and as I was shaking the seeds on my salad, I saw some of the dust flying in the air. So now I feel as though my whole kitchen is contaminated.
(I should also mention that I still refuse to use the salad bowl that the "contaminated" salad was in, just in case).

Do you guys think that my fears are logical or am I overthinking this?

I think you are way overthinking this. Hantavirus is really rare, and when people bring up worrying about this, I always think about some people I knew who had mice colonize their camper while it was in winter storage. Now that was a mess, and the sort of thing that I think would present a risk.

You don't even know what you saw was mouse poop. And if one bit of mouse poop can contaminate an entire kitchen, then my kitchen is doomed, because those darn little critters have gotten in several times and pooped on my floor and in my cabinets. Mice in the kitchen are not uncommon, but hantavirus remains really rare, which should tell you something about how unlikely it is.

After many years of being a rodent of all types owner I can guarantee you the poops are not rubbery or hard to pull apart. Enjoy salad in peace!

Positive vibes,

Mouse.


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Thank you both so much!! I feel much calmer now :)