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Worried sick about LCMV
I'm 37yo, 27 weeks pregnant. My husband and I just bought a house, and were cleaning out the kitchen cupboards in anticipation of moving in. I found a few small, hard, black rice/seed-looking things in the cabinets while cleaning, and not knowing what they were at first, I had touched one. I washed my hands, swept the particles out of the cabinets and the house, and then looked it up, and found that I handled and likely inhaled dried mouse dung. Furthermore, I found out that I put myself at risk for contracting LCMV -- which can cause severe birth defects in utero -- from cleaning and sweeping the dung. I am absolutely petrified that I have contracted LCMV. Even though we didn't spend the night in the house, I am still wheezing. I called the doctor this morning, and he completely dismissed me and told me that he never even heard of LCMV and felt that I was in no danger. Have I put myself at serious risk, or should I just not worry about it and hope and pray the mice that may have left the dung aren't LCMV carriers?
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Does anyone know if you can get LCMV from old mouse droppings? I had my couch in storage for a while, where the mice found a happy little home. About a year and a half ago I got it out, cleaned it out, and forgot about it (I wasn't pregnant at the time). I'm about 5 months pregnant now, and am petrified that I "missed a spot", and to be honest, you never really know where a mouse decided to pee on your couch, 'cuz you just can't see it... only the poo and the nesting material. (You contract LCMV from any of the three).
Help!!!!
Help!!!!
Thanks for the reassurance...think I needed a reality check on the odds. Pregnancy has become much more of a minefield these days... I'm pretty certain my mother ate bleu cheese, had several glasses of wine, and cleaned up using industrial chemicals during her pregnancies in the 1970s. (I have refrained entirely from all of these.) Perhaps my anxiety is a sign we know too much!
I myself have never heard of such a thing. And I would imagine that if you cleaned your hands and not went touching your face, or any other part of your body that the rat feces would not be a problem. Pregnant women need to clean house also. Could have been the dust that have you weezing i would not worry unless symptoms get worse.
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Presumably if you were to come down with mysterious symptoms in a couple of weeks, a doctor could test you to see if that is what you have. Also, when a person gets an illness that is dangerous to an unborn baby, there are windows where it is and where it is not dangerous to the baby. (That's true of chicken pox and Fifth Disease, so it stands to reason it would be true of LCMV.) So, although the chances sound slim to none to me that you even were exposed, if you were, find out what exposure at 27 weeks means. It might not mean as much as exposure at 9 weeks, for example.
Please see the following -- note that LCMV can be carried by housepet animals like guinea pigs. Do you know how many pregnant women take care of their hamsters and guinea pigs during pregnancy and DO NOT get LCMV? Hundreds of thousands!
So please try not to worry. You didn't do yourself any harm.
From another site:
What is LCMV?
The Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis Virus (LCMV) is carried by rodents such as hamsters, guinea pigs or mice. LCMV rarely infects humans and most people with normal immune systems who are exposed to the virus do not become ill.
What are the Symptoms?
Symptoms of LCMV infection are similar to those for influenza and include fever, stiff neck, a lack of appetite, muscle aches, headache, nausea and vomiting, and occur 1–2 weeks after exposure to an infected rodent.