Re: [Mouse urine on soda cans:-would you believe CDC says this is a hoax?

[Guest guest]

First here is the snopes page on this urban legend

http://snopes.com/toxins/raturine.htm#add

The text follows:

In September 1999 the following variation on the " deadly rat excretions "

theme turned up on the Internet:

A stock clerk was sent to clean up a storeroom at their Maui location. When

he got back, he was complaining that the storeroom was really filthy, and

that he had noticed dried mouse or rat droppings in some areas.

A couple of days later, he started feeling like he was coming down with

stomach flu, achy joints, headache, and he started throwing up. He went to

bed and never really got up. Within two days he was so ill and weak. His

blood sugar count was down to 66 and his face and eyeballs were yellow.

He was rushed to the emergency at Pali Momi, where they said he was

suffering from massive organ failure! The doctor, in ER, transferred him to

St. Francis Hospital and notifies all his relatives as he didn't have long

to live.

In ICU of St. Francis Hospital, a team of doctors were trying desperately

to stabilize him. They said that even if by some miracle he pulled through,

he would need a new liver, kidneys, pancreas and bladder.

He died shortly before midnight.

None of us would have ever made the connection between his job and his

death, but the doctors specifically asked if he had been in a warehouse or

exposed to dried rat or mouse droppings at any time. They said there is a

virus (much like Hanta virus) that lives in dried rat and mouse droppings.

Once dried, these droppings are like dust, and can be easily inhaled or

ingested if a person is not careful to wash their hands and face

thoroughly, or wear protective gear. An autopsy is being conducted to

verify the doctors' suspicions and tissue samples have been sent to the CDC

in Atlanta.

Please be extremely careful to always rinse off the tops of any canned

sodas or foods, and wipe off pasta packaging, cereal boxes, etc. Almost

everything you buy in a supermarket was stored in a warehouse at one time

or another, and stores themselves often have rodents. I worked in grocery

wholesaling long enough to know that even the cleanest store has mice or rats.

Despite the vividness of the story, nothing about such a death turns up in

the news. There is no record of anyone -- store clerk or otherwise -- dying

at the St. Francis Hospital after coming in contact with rodent droppings.

Adding to this story's implausibility are the questions raised by the few

checkable details offered in the text. The St. Francis Hospital is in

Honolulu as is the Pali Momi Medical Center. Honolulu is on the island of

Oahu. We're told the doomed store clerk was working in Maui. Someone who'd

become ill on Maui would have gone to a medical facility on that island,

not travelled by air or sea 75 miles to visit an emergency room on another

island.

Most scares contain a vague whiff of plausibility, and this is true with

both stories listed above. Although there is nothing inherently toxic about

urine or feces from a healthy rat (you could probably ingest it all day,

were you so inclined), excretions from a sick rat are another kettle of

fish, and perhaps that is what this bit of scarelore is addressing. There

have been several rat urine stories in the news of late.

Leptospirosis, better known as Weil's disease, is a potentially deadly

illness caused by bacteria passed along to humans in contact with urine

from diseased animals (rats, frogs, rabbits, snakes, pigs and dogs). It is

picked up rurally from swimming in contaminated lakes and reservoirs. In

cities, the bacteria are passed along more easily -- people splashing

through puddles in areas that have a large rodent population might contract

the disease, and eating or drinking contaminated food and water is always a

danger. Leptospirosis can also be contracted by rubbing eyes with dirty

hands. People with open cuts and wounds are especially vulnerable to the

bacteria, as it can be picked up almost anywhere.

As the rat population in cities grows, so does the potential for contact

with this disease.

Leptospirosis typically causes aches, pains and fever that go away on their

own. One in ten cases includes high fever, jaundice, meningitis

(inflammation of the brain lining), acute kidney failure, internal bleeding

and, occasionally, death. Victims can die if they develop serious kidney or

liver complications. In extreme cases, death follows three to six days

after infection. The disease is treatable with antibiotics.

In November 1998 leptospirosis killed eight people and hospitalized one

hundred in China. In the same month in 1997, 22 people died from the same

cause out of the 300 who were infected with it. In the United States, 100

to 200 cases of leptospirosis occur each year (with about half of those in

Hawaii), according to the Center for Disease Control.

Another disease passed on through rat urine is hantavirus. It is

transmitted to humans through breathing in particles of an infected

rodent's urine, droppings or saliva. The virus becomes airborne when

excrement dries. Early symptoms mimic the flu and can progress to

respiratory failure. Since 1993, 21 deaths in the United States have been

blamed on this disease.

In general, urine-encrusted soda cans are not the most likely purveyors of

these diseases. Most cans of soda are packaged into cardboard boxes while

still on the production line and thus aren't at any risk of contamination.

Additionally, once bottlers have mixed soft drink syrup is with soda water

and sweetener, they try to get the finished product to the consumer as

expeditiously as possible. Soft drink bottlers don't warehouse large

inventories of finished product for any length of time -- freshness is

everything, so the product is moved out quickly, leaving little opportunity

for rodents to use the tops of cans as latrines. Moreover, any rats living

in bottling plants are going to be hanging out where they find can food,

and the best place for them to find food is where the product ingredients

are mixed. There's little or nothing for a rat to dine on in the finished

product area.

Nonetheless, it's still always a good idea to wipe off cans from exposed

six-packs or those dispensed from drink machines, if for no other reason

than to avoid picking up something passed on by the human handlers of the

product.

Here is what CDC says about it:

Additional information:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has received several

inquiries about an e-mail report of a stock clerk who became infected with

hantavirus while working in a storeroom. According to the e-mail message,

the infection resulted from exposure to dried rodent droppings that were

contaminated with hantavirus. The e-mail message warns the reader to take

precautions when handling items such as soda cans and grocery packages (for

example, cereal boxes) because they may be contaminated with hantavirus.

The e-mail report is untrue. CDC could not substantiate this report of a

hantavirus infection, nor has CDC been asked to participate in an

investigation of the incident described in the e-mail.

Hantaviruses can cause a serious, often life-threatening disease called

hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, or HPS. The viruses are carried by certain

species of mice and can be spread to humans by exposure to

virus-contaminated rodent droppings, urine, or saliva.

For more information about hantavirus pulmonary syndrome and ways to reduce

the risk for exposure to hantaviruses, please refer to the CDC

<http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/hanta/hps/index.htm>All About

Hantavirus Web site.

At 09:33 PM 5/11/2003 -0400, you wrote:

>In a message dated 5/11/03 11:48:16 AM Eastern Daylight Time, Bettysacrafty1

>writes:

>

> >

> > >>

> >>

> >> A stock clerk was sent to clean up a storeroom in Maui, Hawaii. When he

> >> got back, he was complaining that the storeroom was really filthy and

> that

> >> he had noticed dried mouse or rat droppings in some areas.

> >>

> >> A couple of days later, he started to feel like he was coming down with a

> >> stomach flu, complained of sore joints and headaches, and began to vomit.

> >> He went to bed and never really got up again. Within two days he was

> >> severely ill and weak. His blood sugar count was down to 66, and his face

> >> and eyeballs were yellow. He was rushed to the emergency at Pali-Momi,

> >> where he was diagnosed to be suffering from massive organ failure. He

> died

> >> shortly before midnight.

> >>

> >> No one would have made the connection between his job and his death, had

> >> it not been for a doctor who specifically asked if he had been in a

> >> warehouse or exposed to dried rat or mouse droppings at any time. They

> >> said there is a virus (much like the Hanta virus) that lives in dried rat

> >> and mouse droppings. Once dried, these droppings are like dust and can

> >> easily be breathed in or ingested if a person does not wear protective

> >> gear or fails to wash face and hands thoroughly.

> >>

> >> An autopsy was performed on the clerk to verify the doctor's suspicions.

> >>

> >> This is why it is extremely important to ALWAYS carefully rinse off the

> >> tops of canned sodas or foods, and to wipe off pasta packaging, cereal

> >> boxes, and so on.

> >>

> >> Almost everything you buy in a supermarket was stored in a warehouse at

> >> one time or another, and stores themselves often have rodents.

> >>

> >> Most of us remember to wash vegetables and fruits but never think of

> boxes

> >> and cans.

> >>

> >> The ugly truth is, even the most modern, upper-class, super store has

> rats

> >> and mice. And their warehouse most assuredly does!

> >>

> >> Whenever you buy any canned soft drink, please make sure that you wash

> the

> >> top with running water and soap or, if that is not available, drink

> with a

> >> straw.

> >>

> >> The investigation of soda cans by the Center for Disease Control in

> >> Atlanta discovered that the tops of soda cans can be encrusted with dried

> >> rat's urine, which is so toxic it can be lethal. Canned drinks and other

> >> foodstuffs are stored in warehouses and containers that are usually

> >> infested with Rodents, and then they get transported to retail outlets

> >> without being properly cleaned. Please forward this message to the people

> >> you care about.

> >>

> >> (I JUST DID!)

> >>

> >

>

>

>

>