You would think that growing up watching movies about brave, friendly, wise, and helpful mice would have created a soft spot in my heart for them. Unfortunately for the mouse, I learned about the health threats they pose and landed in the world of pest control Here are the 4 ways that mice threaten our health.
1) Surfaces – Mice like to hide, eat, poop, and pee. They may hide behind a toilet or inside a garbage can and then run across your kitchen counter. They may get a bit spooked or just decide their bowels are full and leave droppings and urine on your table, plate, or favorite sitting chair. Mice contaminate horizontal, flat and vertical surfaces.
2) Food - Mice join us for our shelter and our food. Whenever they sneak into the candy bowl or food in the pantry, they are contaminating it. Without a monitoring system in place, many people have found droppings in their food supply wondering how many times they had eaten out of it without noticing. Mice contaminate our food with their feces, urine, and saliva in addition to whatever germs are hanging out on their paws.
3) Air - Some pathogens from mice are airborne. Hantavirus is a pulmonary infection that stems from pathogens found in rodent droppings making their way into the air we breathe. If you have been around mice a time or two, you are probably aware of the simple, undesirable smell they add to a structure.
4) Mental health – Nobody needs the stress of mice impacting our mental well-being.
