Has anyone ever hoovered rat poo?!Hantavirus freaakout

[Overthinker89]

Hello. Right bear with good people of Mumsnet while I overthink this to the max.. So, here we go, we have a rat (joy of joys.) I went into action mode and stupidly hoovered up it's mess droppings and all and cleaned down the cupboards afterwards (no gloves which in hindsight was silly) I just sprung into action, cleaned, poured a glass of wine and rang pest control the next day. When they arrived they said I shouldn't of hoovered as rats carry diseases you can make airborn by hoovering. Cue me later googling. Now freaking out I have hantavirus and god knows what else... I live in the UK so trying to rationalise it and hope it's rarer here. Has anyone else ever hoovered away rat poo and lived to tell the tale?! Lesson learned. Just sprung into default cleaning mode and grabbed the hoover and a bin bag..

I am of the same overthinking ilk but vacuumed up mouse poop the other week (also a hantavirus risk) and have lived to tell the tale. Assuming you have your hands a good wash after cupboard cleaning, I'm sure you'll be absolutely fine

I'm super worried about this too!! I hope you're okay? Xx

Our rat didn't leave lots of poo unlike the mice who poo everywhere but yes we cleaned up with hoover and we are all hantavirus free. I investigated risks and decided there wasn't any need to worry

Hanta is incredibly rare in the UK. There is pretty much no chance you caught it from one encounter with a wild rat in the UK.

I looked it up and the cfr is 0.5% so I think you will be fine. I would imagine the chances of actually contracting it in the first place are incredibly low, seeing as rats are plentiful and cases of hanta virus are not. I understand the overthink though.

I have hoovered up rat poo and not had an issue - was a repulsive thing to have to do but better than having it on the floor. I was fine and I am sure you will be too. I hope the pest control person is able to sort the issue of your unwelcome visitor speedily for you!

I believe this CFR is also of diagnosed cases, while many (possibly most) cases of hantavirus just cause mild flu-like symptoms. Pet rats often carry hantavirus too, and antibody studies have shown a large percentage of pet rat owners have been infected in the past, yet most of those people were never aware of it.

Yup. About a third of rat owners have had it at some point (according to some studies). There was a particularly nasty strain a few years ago in the US but even then, no fatalities. I’m a rat-owner and a part of various rat-groups and I’ve never personally heard of anyone knowingly getting sick from their pets, though a good chunk probably have, and just put it down to the sniffles.

I wouldn’t stress about it OP.

Yep. Hoovered out a whole cupboard of it then realised I shouldn’t have done. Was worried sick.
14 months ago and ok so far (tw). I think it is very rare in the uk.

Have had many pet rats over the years and hoovered up their poop. No problems whatsoever. Have had 8 mice for over a year and hoover up theirs as well.
I saved a wild mouse from my cats and kept it in a (basically 5* hotel) box for over a month while it recovered, hoovered up more poop. Cats have brought wild rats in. I've been bitten by both wild and domesticated rats, mice and my ferrets during training, handling and cleaning out. Never had so much as an infection. There's not much point in overthinking.