Mouse Attack

spacebarcowboy said:

Would anyone have advice? Would it be fine once its boiled, or should I just say no to mouse beer?

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The mini-epidemic of hantavirus infection that erupted in the Southwest in 1993 was an ominous new variation of an old theme.

In other parts of the world, rodent-borne hantaviruses have been causing sporadic outbreaks of high fever, hemorrhages, and sometimes kidney failure for most of this century. Over the past 40 years, four strains of hantavirus have been blamed for periodic outbreaks of illness characterized by flu-like symptoms, fevers, and kidney problems.

But this outbreak was different: instead of the 5 to 30 percent fatality rates seen in the past, about 60 percent of people who were stricken in the U.S. died of respiratory failure within days. The first hantavirus deaths were reported in New Mexico in May 1993, in the remote Four Corners area where Arizona, Colorado, Utah and New Mexico meet on the high plains.

The cause of the disease was quickly identified as a novel member of the family of hantaviruses, originally named for the river (Hantaan) in South Korea where the prototype was discovered. The Hantaan serotype viruses cause severe hemorrhagic fever with kidney involvement and are found in Korea, China, and eastern Russia.

The new disease (discovered in the Southwest U.S.) is called the hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. The name for the new pathogen is the Muerto Canyon (Sin Nombre, Four Corners) virus, for the location in New Mexico where it was isolated.

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spacebarcowboy said:

My stash was in a kitchen cabinet. It doesn't appear to have any holes are anything but the wooden door doesn't close completely tight, so I guess they just wiggled in and went to town. I will be loading up on some new plastic containers today (after I go pick up a bunch of free carboys and free kegging equipment a friend of a friend who is moving is giving away!) Win some, lose some!!

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