Diseases from mice

[Worried9months]

Hi everyone

I'm just here for some reassurance and advice or anyone experiences.

I moved recently and had my things in storage in a family members garage for a while. Turns out my little nephew had left biscuits in the garage which had attracted mice. We found droppings

I've since read of diseases albeit rare but that can cause birth abnormalities.

I washed all my furniture and dishes etc but I have no way of knowing what the mice crawled on.

I'm petrified and I can't sleep.

Has anyone else had similar experiences with good outcomes?

No I haven't had experience of it, but all our ancestors had! Even a century ago houses would have been full of mice and they all survived to have kids! And we are the prodgeny of those that did survive.

I really would try not to worry, yes mice have bugs but probably no more than dogs and cats and people share beds with those. Your dh is possibly as germy!

If you washed everything it will be fine.

As for similar experiences with good outcomes ... to be quite frank many women may have touched things an mouse has touched and not even known!

The diseases are very rare and come from ingesting urine and fecal matter. So if you washed everything down it will be fine.

I've read about one where u can inhale urine and worried the mice have peed on something I don't know about

The risk is really, really very low. The street, buses etc' have all had mice and pigeons all over them and we don't worry about breathing out there. Far more pregnant women are hurt by cars/bikes than mice, but we still cross the road because it is a risk we know/understand and no one's set up scary website stories about it. If you have thoroughly washed everything that has been in storage and you use with food/your bare skin it should be fine.

Please don't go on google searching. It is a major anxiety trigger (I know as I have anxiety myself and have done this in the past). Use your midwife and GP for advice (ring them if you're worried), and online reputable sources such as the NHS choices site or Mumsnet. They will be cautious enough but have realistic expectations of risk.

I did call my midwife and went to see the doctor but neither really seem concerned and neither had heard of the lymphocytic choriomeningitis which I read causes the abnormalities

That is probably because it is so rare. Given that mice are not that rare at all (everyone has had to use a mouse trap at some point and we've all seen them run on the underground or metro down on the tracks) it's reassuring that HCPs haven't had to treat a case.

There is a risk, but if you lined up all the risks you face living day to day, it would come in way down the list, well beyond things we all do without worrying.

In life, there are many, many very rare conditions. It's the same with pregnancy, but we have to be very careful about levels of risk and wanting HCPs to worry based on google etc'. That's when it becomes anxiety: a far more common and real medical condition in pregnancy. One of the reasons for my anxiety is that I have lost a pregnancy due to something very rare (partial molar), and as part of my CBT I have been advised to keep off google and given some advice on what 'rare' means in terms of risk.

Thank you squizita. I think anxiety is taking over a bit for me here :( very badly

I'm really sorry for ur loss. Are u now pregnant again

Worried it sucks. :( Mine was hitting the 'absolute average' on those week-by-week calendar things. Even though they are so general, if I was a day behind with movement or had heartburn a week early I'd go mad!