# Can mice make you sick? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 3, 2018, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-mice-make-you-sick/808109 "2018-02-03T17:24:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2018, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-mice-make-you-sick/808109/21 "2018-02-04T18:29:29Z")
I > [@ZurBob](#): > > For the love of Christ… You _could_ be experiencing “cold symptoms” from any number of sources, including the virus that causes colds transferred from another human. > > Incinerate the earth for 100 miles around you if you wish to be certain (maybe). > > However, the surviving mice will come out of their holes at night to infect you. They _ **thirst** _ for human blood. Thing is, I have called in sick to work only 3 times in 10 years, and one time it was more injured than sick. Then comes January, in which I called in 4 days. That’s new. The other new thing is… mice. I thought I would ask. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2018, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-mice-make-you-sick/808109/22 "2018-02-04T20:35:19Z")
Maybe you’re getting old … ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2018, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-mice-make-you-sick/808109/23 "2018-02-04T21:16:03Z")
Well, the cure for that is a hot young mistress! If the thread turns into talking me into getting one of those, I am ok with that 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2018, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-mice-make-you-sick/808109/24 "2018-02-04T21:49:54Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > They can if you eat too many. And yeah, the mere presence of a cat in your house will keep mice away. You need to make sure they are fully cooked, as with any similar dish. They need to reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees. [Mouse recipes.](https://bertc.com/subfive/recipes/cookingrats.htm) ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2018, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-mice-make-you-sick/808109/25 "2018-02-05T01:54:53Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > Well, the cure for that is a hot young mistress! If the thread turns into talking me into getting one of those, I am ok with that 🙂 “Beautiful naked big titted women just don’t fall out of the sky, you know” – Jay ---
**Author:** ![anomalous1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e56c9b/32.png) [@anomalous1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anomalous1)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2018, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-mice-make-you-sick/808109/26 "2018-02-05T11:18:27Z")
Not really much of a danger, only some mice carry really bad stuff, they are too small to really carry rabies (they usually die when attack by an animal with it) not to mention they are fast. Hantavirus is a negligible concern even if you live in an area with it (SW U.S.) I also agree with the Cat idea, if not. Buy Traps with teeth, bait them with dog or cat food, peanut butter etc. Then check outside your house/foundation for holes where they can get in and patch them, steel wool and canned spray foam insulation works in a pinch. Sprinkle some dirty cat litter (not with poop) around your house(EXTERIOR), theoretically the scent can deter them. The worst thing that could happen is a funny look you’ll get when you ask someone for their cat’s dirty litter. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2018, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-mice-make-you-sick/808109/27 "2018-02-05T11:41:57Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > And yeah, the mere presence of a cat in your house will keep mice away. Haha, no. Mice are so common in NH that people selling their homes do not need to include them in the list of known pests in the disclosure - it’s simply assumed _all_ houses have mice. We don’t have a lower rate of cat ownership than anywhere else. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2018, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-mice-make-you-sick/808109/28 "2018-02-05T13:50:11Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > All this is pretty new AFAIK, I don’t think there were any mice here as recently as December. Meanwhile, I have had some serious cold symptoms lately. Could they be connected? If I can’t exterminate them, are there other illnesses I should expect to get from my kitchen or who knows where else? Lemme tell ya a story. My wife and I are remarkably soft-hearted, a bit naïve, and mice are so damned cute… So when we started seeing them running around we set up live traps and dropped the results into a well-appointed 50 gallon fish tank and kept them as pets. We learned a lot about wild mice. First, those little bastidos have incredible vertical skillz and can jump 1-2 feet straight up, quick as a flea. Second, their cuteness and savagery is rivaled only by Catholic high school girls. One day you have 7 mice, the next day you have 6 satisfied mice and a greasy spot. **Lastly, and most importantly, sickness.** After a couple months, The Missus came down with pneumonia that wasn’t responding well to medications (steroids, nebulizers, antibiotics). Finally she asked her doc if perhaps the pet wild mice may be part of the problem. She got scolded, a new prescription, and then got well. Maybe The **Mercotan** can hazard a guess, but it appears there are some bacteria peculiar to the local fauna that can cause significant respiratory distress when inhaled in the course of cleaning an enclosure. And so it was, with heavy hearts and musty lungs, that we called the professionals. It cost us $1,000 but they laid out traps and blocked up all the entry points the mice were using. No more mice. There were evidently two species in the house, by the way. One colony was up in the attic, the other in the basement and walls. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2018, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-mice-make-you-sick/808109/29 "2018-02-05T14:10:41Z")
> [@anomalous1](#): > > [snip] … Sprinkle some dirty cat litter (not with poop) around your house(EXTERIOR), theoretically the scent can deter them. > The worst thing that could happen is a funny look you’ll get when you ask someone for their cat’s dirty litter. Do you have experience with this? … does it _really_ work? … I’m just having trouble imagining how this would attract a hot young beautiful mistress for **Compy** … ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2018, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-mice-make-you-sick/808109/30 "2018-02-05T14:57:35Z")
Seems to me it would work… unless the mice carry toxoplamosis which can change the scent of cat urine from something that induces instinctive fear in mice to something they find very interesting. See [link.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasmosis#Rodents) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-mice-make-you-sick/808109.md?page=1)