Introduction
Rodents pose a threat to human beings in that they can spread diseases by urine of feces. They can also transmit diseases by infecting food and can even bite you, which still is a channel that can lead to the transmission of diseases from rodents. These are all ways that humans can contract mouse diseases. In many cases, the rodents are infected with mites and fleas, whereby they spread this mites and fleas among themselves. The house mouse transmits the disease called lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus to the human beings.
Symptoms of lymphocytic choriomeniqitis
Among the many diseases passed by mice to humans is the lymphocytic choriomeningitis. It is important to note that not all humans that are exposed to mouse diseases become ill. These mouse diseases have symptoms that are related to influenza, for example; you will have a stiff neck, anorexia, headache, vomiting, fever, nausea and muscle aches. The symptoms of these mouse diseases are usually seen between one to two weeks after infections.
Transmission of lymphocytic choriomeniqitis to humans
Rodents are the main hosts of this dangerous disease. When they get into your house, they can carry the viruses which have mouse diseases. You can be infected by mouse diseases when you come in close contact with the urine of the mouse or the mouse droppings or when you are exposed to the nesting of a mouse that is infected. The infection can occur if the nesting materials of a mouse are exposed to any broken skin of human beings, for example, the mouth, nose and eyes. The mode of contraction is not limited to being in contact with their excrement. They can also bite you and pass the disease to you as well. However, this infection to human beings is not common, probably because of the phobia that already exists in human beings in regard to mice.
Reducing the risks of contracting mouse diseases
Even though mouse diseases are not common, it is worthy to talk about how not to contract the disease. For one to avoid contracting any mouse diseases you need to avoid close contact with the mouse themselves. The following are the safety measures that you can take in order to avoid mouse diseases:
When you handle a mouse or any house rodent make sure you wash your hands with clean water. You can use a hand wash with alcohol contents if you don’t have soap.
Furthermore, it is important to ensure that all the rodent cages are kept clean and very well ventilated, in order to avoid transmission of mouse diseases. When you clean up the pet’s house, wash your hands and supervise the young children who are less than five years, when you are cleaning the pets’ house, to make sure that there is no sign of mice or their previous presence. The main point here, however, is to be clean. Furthermore, avoid kissing the pets or hold them close to you if you suspect that they are infected by mice. Make sure you trap all the rodents in your house, and close all the holes that the mouse and rats can pass through to your house. Furthermore, if you keep rodents for pets, keep them away from the wild ones.
