Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | I feel like Miss Fix-It...

I got this from a pest control site.
I used to keep all my dry goods in the fridge.

Aug 1, 2003
By: Dr. George Rotramel
Pest Control

House mice are known carriers of salmonellosis, or bacterial food poisoning. In fact, Salmonella bacteria in mouse feces and urine are primary reasons for mouse control in restaurants and other food-handling establishments.

Unlike rats and many other rodents, house mice are not involved with plague, a disease caused by a bacterium that spreads from host to host by infected fleas. But house mice do carry rickettsialpox, a disease-like spotted fever that is transmitted to humans by the mouse mite, Liponyssoides sanguineus (Lackman, 1963).

Make sure you're knowledgeable about other diseases associated with house mice in the urban environment:

* Allergies. The cause of this increasing problem is not understood. Allergens from house mouse hair are frequently associated with asthma in schools (Amr et al., 2003), homes and workplaces (Phipatanakul et al., 2000). Shed hairs can build up in carpets, as well as under and around kitchen appliances and other areas inhabited by mice.
* Lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV). This can be carried in house mice urine and feces. Although usually causing nonlethal flulike symptoms in adults, LCMV can pass through the placenta and cause devastating defects in newborn infants (Calderon, 2002). Approximately 20% of wild house mice are carriers (Calderon, 2002), and more than 30% of premises may be infected (Mortenson and Rotramel, 1976). LCMV and LCMV birth defects both appear to be commonly overlooked or misdiagnosed (Barton et al., 1995).
* Leptospirosis. Although usually considered a disease of rats, Leptospirosis (one form is known as Weil's disease) can be transmitted in the urine of house mice and other mammals. Patients experience flulike symptoms that may persist for several months.
* Hantavirus. "Four Corners disease" is frequently lethal, transmitted when humans inhale or ingest mouse feces or urine. House mice do not appear to be involved in the outbreaks of hantaviruses in the US, all of which have been associated with native rodents (Rotramel, 1997). However, house mice have been implicated in outbreaks of similar diseases in Europe (Diglisic et al., 1994).
* Lyme disease. Borrelia burgdorferi, a microorganism carried by ixodid ticks, is the cause of this disease. Although house mice have not been implicated in the transmission of Lyme disease in this hemisphere (Oliver et al., 1999), they are suspected of helping to maintain the disease in Russia and Europe (Gern et al., 1998). In a Denmark study, 100% of house mice showed evidence of infection by the Lyme disease organism (Frandsen et al., 1995).
* Toxocariasis and larva migrans. House mice are hosts for one life stage of Toxocara cati and Toxocara canis, two roundworms that parasitize dogs and cats but can also cause a disease in humans known as larva migrans. Children contract larva migrans when they play in soil that has been contaminated with cat or dog feces. They transfer worm eggs from their hands to their mouths. The eggs hatch in the children's stomachs and the resulting larvae migrate through their bodies before forming cysts under the skin and in body organs. (Dubinsky et al., 1995).

--------------------
Carol

n�s somos o que n�s somos e o descanso � merda

Print Remind Me Notify Moderator