Once in a while, after a few months, we find a mouse or two in our home. They enter into our house from the main entrances or other crevices present which we left uncovered. No one wants these small creatures in their house. These small pests make our house dirty, makes us uncomfortable, and that’s why we don’t want them. We get annoyed from their movement in our house because they keep moving from one room to another.
Many of us keep looking for the best electronic mice repellent devices which can repel these creatures away from our homes, some highly effective traps, and few of us also use poison baits. But, these above mentioned are the only reasons why we take so much trouble?
No. The main reason why we want them away from our house is that they spread a lot of diseases. Some of them are non-serious but a few of them can cause a serious damage to your health.
How Mouse Spread Diseases
A mouse can be seem harmless when looking at its big eyes and the cute ears. But, you can also say that, it’s an ideal vehicle where you can transport many kinds of diseases. Mice can transmit diseases to humans and other animals through droppings, biting, lice, mites, ticks, and fleas.
These small creatures can spread diseases to humans in both ways, directly and indirectly. The direct transmission of diseases from mice can occur when people handle or eat food items which are contaminated with the mice feces, or drink water which comes from the place which is infected from the dead mouse. Mice urine can spread diseases when the skin wound comes into the contact with it.
Mice can also spread some diseases even without getting contact with the people. It occurs when fleas, mosquitoes, mites, and other various kinds of parasites gets into contact with you, after feeding on the infected mouse.
But, most of the diseases spread by mice, whether they’re from direct transmission or indirect transmission can be cured by taking a proper medical care.
Common Diseases Spread by Mice
There are various kinds of diseases spread by these small pests, but the most common are plague, rat-bite fever, Hantavirus, salmonella, and leptospirosis.
Salmonella and Hantavirus
The diseases like Salmonella and Hantavirus spread by getting contact with the mouse droppings, especially when the food or the water you drink is contaminated with the mice feces. Vomiting, diarrhea, and gastrointestinal pain are the very common symptoms of Salmonella. Hantavirus symptoms include flu-like aches, pains, renal failure, and the severe respiratory distress.
Leptospirosis and Rat-Bite Fever
Actually, Leptospirosis is a bacterium which is spread by the mouse urine. It can remain present in the water or soil for months without getting destroyed. Its symptoms include head and muscle aches, vomiting, diarrhea, jaundice, and high fever. The rat-bite fever can also be carried by mice, although it’s named as rat-bite fever. The name of this fever gives hint about it, it spreads through the bites or scratches. However, it can also be spread by handling an infected rodent or eating & drinking infected food or water. The symptoms of Rat-bite fever are body aches, red rash with small bumps, and fever.
Plague
It’s the most popular disease spread by the mice. It’s transmitted by the bites from the fleas that have fed on the infected rodents. Handling an infected rodent can also lead to having this disease. Generally, there are three kinds of plague; these are septicemic, pneumonic, and bubonic. Extreme weakness and high fever are the initial symptoms of all the types of plague. The bubonic plague symptoms include painful and swollen lymph nodes. Symptoms of septicemic are shock, bleeding into skin and other organs, and abdominal pain. Pneumonic plague can spread from one person to another. It’s characterized by respiratory failure and shock.
So, these were the common diseases spread by these pests, and how they spread them. If you take safety measures, be aware about how you can make them stay away from your house, and then you can protect your family from these pests and their diseases.