OT Rodent Infested old car virus

[Jeff Ivan]

Hello all- I'm going to attempt to do a little research for a friend of a friend who is not computer equipped. Could one of you kind and friendly folks here maybe tell me the name or medical term of the virus/illness contracted when working on old car upholstery that has been contaminated by rodent droppings? Please don't think this is a joke. This is a potentially serious illness, and I do remember reading postings about it here before, but maybe it was on the older version of this forum. A friend told me about the serious respiratory problems of someone we know that developed a couple of months after dragging home another old car (the typical in-a barn-for-30 years-type of purchase). Although it could have been a coincidence he is sick, his buddies teased him about how it was already a "Rat" and was full of s*** to prove it. I am now very paranoid of my old headliner, and plan to remove it soon. I have always had a job requiring wearing protective clothing/respirator so I am aware of all the precautions to take. I would act and dress as if I were removing airborn asbestos or similar toxic material. Depending on your perspective, I work second shift and have been working more overtime now than I have ever worked in 6 years at my current job, so I have literally had NO time to do the few minor repairs needed to drive my '51 Cranbrook very much at all this summer. On the positive side,$$ towards a new garage are slowly adding up. I would just like to know for myself the medical term for this sickness, and to help others be aware of the hazards that may be in these old cars and trucks (and buildings too). I don't mean to sound scary, but maybe this is a subject that those with knowledge could comment about. Thanks to all, ==Jeff==

[BobT-47P15]

I think maybe it's the hantavirus.

[Don Coatney]

Jeff;

I was wondering why we have not heard from you in a while but it sounds like you have been busy. As Bob mentioned hantivirus is the name you are looking for. For more information follow this link.

http://www.hantavirus.net/

[builtfercomfort]

Hanta is about the worst of the things you can get, and it seems to be confined to the West and Southwest (in the US) but there are a number of other diseases you can get from old mouse nests. Hanta is not a respritory illness per se, symptoms are more like flu.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hantavirus

Mold spores can cause illness too, I know a guy who bought a house and ran a riding lawnmower through the rotting leaf piles in the back yard, inhaling the mold spores - he spent a week in the ICU and at one point was not expected to live. I'm not sure if it was Histoplasmosis or Aspergillosis in his case.

So, yes, be careful with old cars with mouse nests or rotting interiors!

[1just4don]

The hanta is indeed not to be messed with. It is VERY serious stuff. Not sure I agree it is the absolute worst,,,but it does rank right up there. (YOU will think it is while in the ER and ICU) has anyone ever heard of long term chronic hanta??Does it exist?? I plug up instantly when I walk into a mousy building or bin.

I once moved a bin home and it was terrible mousy rat infested where it was,,,as well as bad grain dust.(under the floor were numerous dead rodents!!) After moving it home and winding it out it still made me sicker by the day!! I even remarked to somebody I thought that bin was making me sick,,,I was promptly laughed at!! Every day for the ten days or so I was there it was worse,,,every day out of there AFTER it was all done I was better. Just wondered IF there was long term effects to this stuff??? --just don--

[Normspeed]

Hantavirus. There's another one that's tied to bird droppings. I recall some writeups a few years back where someone rehabbed an old building, possibly a church, and when they were cleaning out the bell tower they didn't wear respirators, and picked up lung infections from the dust. So if your barn find was in a chicken coop you'd want to be careful when cleaning it up.

[PatS....]

My '49 was full up to the seat cushions and the headliner was chock full from sitting for 30+ years. I bought a fancy heppa mask and filters and used them while cleaning it outdoors. Our local health board said our winters will kill any older germs but I don't have much faith in government employees:rolleyes:

All the while doing this car I was thinking about the countless cars I have done the same to over the years without the thought of a mask:eek:

Seems that there are news reports of every summer of "older" farmers dying from hantavirus and they didn't know they had it until it was too late.

[1just4don]

I dont mean to hijack this thread. Since it is HEALTH related hoping it fits in.

I see ALOT of posters here that live in tick bourne infectious regions of the USA(and Canada). How do YOU protect yourself from being bit by a tick. Do you use DEET every time you are outside or in the garage?? What other protective measures do you take??? JUST interested as a poll type thing!! THEY are the critters that will ruin every day of the rest of your life. Unfortunately they MAY (Or it MAY kill you too) not kill you,,,but you wish they did!! --just don--

[PatS....]

I don't use sunblock or deet because I just cannot stand that slimey crap on me other than my arms.

The neighbors had a petition to stop me from going outside in my speedo and flip-flops so that saves on sunblock and the rollers to apply it, and being in the big city, I don't worry too much about ticks.

I'm also unable to be in the direct sunlight for very long and if it's real hot, I seek A/C ASAP. Wimp is me.

A/C in the garage next year (window model)

[Normspeed]

I use DEET every time I'm likely to get into a brushy area. I also make sure my dogs are protected. I found out years back that I'm allergic to tick and other arthropod bites. If I get one that breaks the skin the doc removes the bite area surgically. Annoying. Summertime in Socal the brush is loaded with them.

[Dennis Hemingway]

We not only have the Hantavirus to worry about but here in the south/west we have Valley Fever. Our son has had 1/2 of a lung removed due to Valley Fever. Now he has to go to the hospital every 6 months so they can check and clean out his lungs.

Dennis:(

http://www.valleyfever.com/whatis.htm

[Norm's Coupe]

From what I've heard and understand the Hantra virus is primarily from rats in the southwestern part of the country. When I first heard about it they claimed the virus was not carried by northern rats. That was a long time ago, so I guess that could have changed.

As I've mentioned several times about removing headliners, the best way is like I did. Wear a mask or respirator and gloves. Move the car out of the garage into the open air. Remove the seats cushions from the car. Roll all the windows down in the car. Then, tape a hobby knife to a long stick or dowel. Then, stand outside the car and cut the headliner out in sections between each bow while standing outside the car. Then vacuum the car out and clean the floor etc. with a disinfectant type cleaner. Instead of trying to clean out the shop vac, I threw it away. I also threw away the clothes and gloves I was wearing when I cut the headliner out.

With that in mind. Mice and rats also get between the doors and door panels/side panels of the car. You should clean that area out too. I carried it one step further and took all my seat cushions to a detail shop. Had them clean and disinfect all the seats. They completely soaked the seats with commercial strength disinfectant. The shop said they used about a gallon of disinfectant on the four cushions. To give you an idea of how much they soaked them down. The disinfectant when used at it's most powerful strength had a 10 part water to 1 part disinfectant. That means they soaked the seat cushions with about 10 gallons of mixture. Took over a week for them to completely dry out.

[PatS....]

Dennis, being from the frozen north, I have never heard of Valley Fever. Scary stuff...how is your son handling this? Hopefully there is a treatment soon.

The -40 kills a whole bunch of scary things like that up here, along with creepy crawly things that bite.

[PatS....]

Norm, here the hantavirus is from mice. Alberta is officially rat-free. I have never seen a rat and we have a Rat Patrol along the borders eredicating rats as soon as they appear.

So far so good.

http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/agdex3441

[Dennis Hemingway]

Dennis, being from the frozen north, I have never heard of Valley Fever. Scary stuff...how is your son handling this? Hopefully there is a treatment soon.

The -40 kills a whole bunch of scary things like that up here, along with creepy crawly things that bite.

Pat, he is handling it well, he is living in Las Vegas with his wife & 4 children. (21,18,13,3)

Dennis:cool:

[Normspeed]

We have backyard avocado, peach, apple, citrus, plum, and other fruit growing in my neighborhood. Great during the right season but we also sometimes see "fruit rats" that are small, tan, and look almost cute (for a rat). But, rats is rats. When you uncover one of their stashes, you'll find half eaten fruit and droppings. Only animal I know that will crap in its own food.

[Jeff Ivan]

And thanks Don C. for posting that link. Now I am even more paranoid! We live in a rural area, and those deer mice are found around here. Thanks to the Red-Tail hawks constantly circling overhead and the black rat snakes that reside under our porches and sheds, the mouse and chipmunk population is now minimal. Since I do most of the yard work, I often come across the black snakes, some of them are pretty big. My wife always says I am exaggerating about the size of some of them. She usually only comes across smaller black snakes and garter snakes in her flower beds. Last week she came home from grocery shopping, and was greeted by a large black snake sunning himself on the cement in front of the kitchen door. She is not a girly-girl city slicker, so she is not freaked out by snakes. She shooed it away with a piece of wood to protect it from our dogs who wanted out. As it slithered away it went past some landscaping timbers that she knew were 8 feet long. She estimated it to be nearly 7 feet long, so now I am no longer full of bovine waste. In the link posted by Don C. it said to encourage snakes and predators to live around your house to keep mice away. They seem to already know what to do without encouragement. I recently found a mouse nest in one of the sheds. It was made from dog hair and dryer lint. I can't believe the little bugger carried it that far to build a nest. Of course the nest was empty and surrounded by shedded snake skins. Maybe that is why mice try to get into my Plymouth, they feel safer! A couple years ago I was selling a F-150 pickup. A young guy and his wife came to look at it. When we opened the hood, there was a snake skin thru the wiring harness, could not have been there more than 3 or 4 days. The girl let out a very loud and shrill scream, and ran back to their car and rolled up the windows. Later that night the guy called me and said he really wanted to buy the truck, but his wife forbid him to park it at their house and she refused to ever ride in it. So I refunded his deposit with no hard feelings. I remember reading on this forum recently one of you guys found a live snake in his old car, under the dash or somewhere. Who was it? Not going to poke fun, just curious who it was, and how it was evicted? ==Jeff==

[Don Coatney]

I remember reading on this forum recently one of you guys found a live snake in his old car, under the dash or somewhere. Who was it?

Jeff;

It was Rodney "THE SNAKE MAN" Bullock.

[PatS....]

" but his wife forbid him to park it at their house and she refused to ever ride in it."

Just trying to find the downside in that.

[62rebelP23]

wow... i had a conversation with a CDC research dr a while back and he was doing clinicals on Hanta here in SC. (don't ask how a counterguy at VW strikes up a conversation with a CDC dr...) he was a little hesitant to explain WHY he was doing the research 2500 miles from the supposed only source. what my theory is, is that the more people are isolated from the environment, the more likely they are to become susceptible to viruses and bacteria that otherwise pose no threat to us. i for one am guilty of being very attached to my AC in the summertime, and after a day out in the heat and dust i get splitting headaches and flu-like symptoms. in the winter i don't get them. but if i spend too much time indoors i get stuffy headaches too. and i admit to being less than a great housekeeper... hey, i'm a guy.

local reports of rabid squirrels, rats, and other critters keep me on my toes too.

[1just4don]

Go easy with those folk. CDC speakth with forked tongue!!!

[62rebelP23]

ANYBODY who works for the "inner circle" in DC is shall we say less than trustworthy? this guy couldn't answer my questions about rabies worth a darn. or wouldn't... ANYWAY. i think from now on i'll clean out project cars WHERE I BUY THEM. if the seller doesn't like it, oh well. i bought a Volvo p1800 a couple years ago and it had a HUGE yellow rat snake in the debris in the back seat. don't think i want to see one that big again (i estimate 6-7 feet long; thick as my wrist in the body!) outside a pet shop. hanta virus hasn't been in the news of late; is it in decline or?