Spring Valley Pest Control and Disease Carrying Rodents

Lymphocytic choriomeningitis (LCM) is a viral infection of the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord and of the cerebrospinal fluid. It is an infectious disease carried by rodents, including common house mice and rats.

The virus has also been known to transmit via pets such as hamsters and chinchillas but this is far less common.

Your Spring Valley Pest Controller Exterminates Mice and Removes Droppings

LCM is caused by an arenavirus, which is an RNA virus and is a mild cousin in the family containing the much more threatening arenaviruses that cause hemorrhagic fever. Humans acquire the LCM virus (LCMV) from infected rodents by coming in contact with the animals or their excretions. Most cases of LCM occur in fall and winter, when mice seek warmth inside dwellings. Food and dust can become contaminated by the excretions of rodents infected with LCM virus. Pest control experts in Spring Valley are experienced in the safe removal of the infected rodents and their droppings.

Hantavirus is a life-threatening viral infection spread to humans by rodents. It has symptoms similar to influenza.

Hantavirus Causes

Hantavirus is carried by rodents, especially deer mice. The virus is found in their urine and feces, but it does not make the animal sick.

Humans can get sick with this virus if they breathe in contaminated dust from mice nests or droppings. You may come in contact with such dust when cleaning homes, sheds, or other enclosed areas that have been empty for a long time.

Hantavirus does not seem to spread between humans.

Symptoms

The early symptoms of hantavirus disease are similar to the flu and include:

Rodents, such as rats, mice, prairie dogs and rabbits, are associated with a number of health risks. These diseases can be spread to humans directly, through handling of dead or live rodents, through contact with rodent feces, urine, or saliva, and through rodent bites. Diseases carried by rodents can also be spread to humans indirectly, through fleas, ticks or mites that have fed on an infected rodent.

This is especially concerning as the weather cools and rodents start to look for snug warm places to overwinter - like our homes. The National Pest Management Association estimates that rodents invade about 21 million homes in the United States every winter, squeezing through spaces as small as a nickel.