Posted by dikkPikk 2 things: 1)It's haunted. (Burn some sage when you get home). 2)There's rats (be wary of the *hantavirus). *Hantavirus is a virus that is found in the urine, saliva, or droppings of infected deer mice and some other wild rodents (cotton rats, rice rats in the southeastern Unites States and the white-footed mouse and the red-backed vole). It causes a rare but serious lung disease called Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS).
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Friendly local microbiologist here. While you are correct that Hantavirus is spread primarily thru the urine of mice - there is some clarification on the sub species of Hantavirus that is endemic to the SE United States. It is carried by the cotton rat and is called the Black Creek Hantavirus.
Its fairly rare, I wouldn't worry too much about it as an N-95 particulate mask and spraying any detritus wherein a cotton rat may have urinated with disinfectant prior to disturbance/removal. Remember that rodents are incontinent and constantly emit a stream of urine.
Please see
https://www.cdc.go.../transmission.html ----cut and paste below from above website--------
Where Hantavirus is Found
Cases of human hantavirus infection occur sporadically, usually in rural areas where forests, fields, and farms offer suitable habitat for the virus’s rodent hosts. Areas around the home or work where rodents may live (for example, houses, barns, outbuildings, and sheds) are potential sites where people may be exposed to the virus. In the US and Canada, the Sin Nombre hantavirus is responsible for the majority of cases of hantavirus infection. The host of the Sin Nombre virus is the deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus), present throughout the western and central US and Canada.
Several other hantaviruses are capable of causing hantavirus infection in the US. The New York hantavirus, carried by the white-footed mouse, is associated with HPS cases in the northeastern US.
The Black Creek hantavirus, carried by the cotton rat, is found in the southeastern US. Cases of HPS have been confirmed elsewhere in the Americas, including Canada, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Panama, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
Can pets transmit HPS to humans?
The hantaviruses that cause human illness in the United States are not known to be transmitted by any types of animals other than certain species of rodents. Dogs and cats are not known to carry hantavirus; however, they may bring infected rodents into contact with people if they catch such animals and carry them home.
How People Become Infected with Hantaviruses
In the United States, deer mice (along with cotton rats and rice rats in the southeastern states and the white-footed mouse in the Northeast) are reservoirs of the hantaviruses. The rodents shed the virus in their urine, droppings, and saliva. The virus is mainly transmitted to people when they breathe in air contaminated with the virus.
When fresh rodent urine, droppings, or nesting materials are stirred up, tiny droplets containing the virus get into the air. This process is known as “airborne transmission“. There are several other ways rodents may spread hantavirus to people:
•If a rodent with the virus bites someone, the virus may be spread to that person, but this type of transmission is rare.
•Scientists believe that people may be able to get the virus if they touch something that has been contaminated with rodent urine, droppings, or saliva, and then touch their nose or mouth.
•Scientists also suspect people can become sick if they eat food contaminated by urine, droppings, or saliva from an infected rodent.
The hantaviruses that cause human illness in the United States cannot be transmitted from one person to another. For example, you cannot get these viruses from touching or kissing a person who has HPS or from a health care worker who has treated someone with the disease.
In Chile and Argentina, rare cases of person-to-person transmission have occurred among close contacts of a person who was ill with a type of hantavirus called Andes virus.