Hantavirus

[Joe & Penny Goss]

Jim,
That reminds me of a tee-shirt that I saw recently

           "eat healthy
           DIE ANYWAY"
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> From: JIMRPT@aol.com
> To: harvey@greenwood.net; owner-pianotech@ptg.org; pianotech@ptg.org
> Subject: Re:  Re: Hantavirus
> Date: Friday, July 24, 1998 10:46 PM
> 
> Hanatavirus?  So?........ now wait a minute don't get upset yet :-)
> Yes Hantavirus is a danger, so is tetanus, driving a car, slipping in the
> shower   and gargling,  each of which has caused more deaths than has
> Hantavirus in the past five years.
>  Lets keep things in perspective and not go overboard on precautions
against
> something that plain ole common sense will take care of, i.e. if you use
a
> vacuum cleaner to clean out a piano...don't stick your face down in the
> vacuums exhaust! Use a brush, and scooper of some descrition, to clean up
the
> biggest portion of foreign matter and debris found in the piano BEFORE
you use
> the vacuum cleaner.
>   Before you turn on the vacumm cleaner, spray/soak the filter with your
> disinfectant, wear a mask if you must but.......... the only truly
effective
> masks will be the Bio Hazard masks which will guard against these little
> goobers.  I think the number of techs that have these masks and are
willing to
> change their 37 dollar filters after every use is infinitesimally small.
>   Keep it in perspective y'all,,,,,, don't allow half way, or
halfhearted,
> measures make you careless when all that is needed is common sense rather
than
> a cloud of dust.
> Oh and on your next cleanout of an older piano you might want to consider
the
> prevalance of tuberculosis that was extant when the instrument was made
and
> the fact that the chances of someone playing and coughing over that piano
who
> was infected with TB is very good.  No problem huh?..... except maybe the
fact
> that TB spores develop a hard shell covering when exposed to air and if
kept
> away from sunlight can last many decades in that form............just
> something to think about the next time you vacuum the old thing out in a
> casual fashion because after all there is no evidence of mice, or meece, 
> or moose infestation/droppings :-)
> Just my opionion.
>  JIm Bryant (FL)