LCMV - Freaking Out a Little

[Emmyjean]

Okay, let me just start by saying that this is my third pregnancy and I am NOT the type of person who worries constantly about every random thing and is constantly calling the doctor (in fact, I probably don't worry ENOUGH about most things). But...

A couple months ago, we realized we had a house mouse. We had decided to put in the standalone air conditioning unit that had been sitting there for weeks and found poop underneath (gross). I checked the food cabinets and found no evidence of poop, gnawing on packaging or anything, so I assume it had been subsisting on the dog's food (which was right there) and whatever crumbs the kids dropped (which is a constant battle).

Thinking nothing of it, I vacuumed the droppings and did some checking/cleaning through the rest of the house. I did this several times as we tried to get rid of it, and finally my dog got it (husband was working so I disposed of the thing - didn't touch it, washed hands thoroughly). Haven't seen anything since, so think he was probably the only one. Come to find out after the fact that in rare cases, wild mice carry a virus (LCMV) that can be passed to humans through their feces, urine and saliva that can cause big-time birth defects if a pregnant woman catches it. It's only in like 5% of wild rodents so obviously rare, but of COURSE it's sometimes asymptomatic so you wouldn't even know you had it.

I'm freaking out. I called the doctor's office and they didn't seem concerned at all, basically just laughed and said to let my husband handle the gross stuff from now on. But I just can't forget about it, I feel so stupid for not thinking to check FIRST. I don't really know what I'm looking for here - just reassurance, I guess. Or if anyone has had experience with this thing before - either been warned by their doctor, tested, or whatever. Sorry, I'm just feeling dumb and gross and sort of crazy for even reacting like this.

Edited to add: I also don't want to freak anyone ELSE out - the funny thing about this is that if it was any of YOU coming to ME with this issue, I'd tell you to relax and stop worrying because mice are literally so common that if this were a big-time worry, we'd all get warned about it right at the get-go. But it's my issue, so I'm being crazy. Ha.

 

[Uni tsi]

Sorry to hear you're stressed out over this. It's rough that the doctor's office just dismissed your concerns like that. It would have been nice if they'd taken them a little more seriously and offered some reassurance. I don't really know much about this particular disease, but from what I was able to find online it is really susceptible to soap, disinfectants, and other cleaning agents so if it was present it sounds like you killed all the germs when you cleaned up the droppings. I'm also reading it's only likely to be caught if the droppings or urine are exposed to mucus membranes or cuts. It doesn't sound like it got into the cupboards or other food, and assuming you didn't rub the droppings around in your eyes, nose, or open wounds, I really believe you can probably relax.

If you're still concerned, or believe you really might have exposed yourself to the feces somehow, bring it up to your doctor again. Stress isn't healthy either, and they really should do more to offer you reassurance if you're feeling stressed out. But, speaking as someone who generally has a lot of health anxiety I really believe you have nothing to worry about. This spring I had to throw away about six dead mice that my cats caught in the basement, and everything still looked fine at my anatomy scan. Are you having a 20 week anatomy scan? Hopefully, that will bring some reassurance.

 

[Emmyjean]

Thanks so much for responding - you really made me feel better. I asked my doctor at my appointment and he says it's just so very rare that it isn't on the radar for most caregivers - there are plenty of other things that are more of an issue, and if we had to think about every single possible teratogen out there, we'd drive ourselves insane and hurt our babies from stress.

He said just let someone else do the cleanup from now on. try to wash hands frequently and everything should be totally fine. I am definitely more at ease now.

 

[Uni tsi]

I'm glad to hear you're feeling more relaxed and your doctor had some good info for you