[pianotech] mouse contamination from the dark side

[Douglas Gregg]

 Euphonious,
There is no anger on my part. I am just bothered by regularly seeing
scarey posts on hantavirus with a great deal of paranoia about mouse
dirt. I know we live in a media world that likes to make a lot out of
viruses, but they just are not that tough. I worked for 30 years with
some of the worst viruses in the world, and we did it every day
without that much concern, except when we were growing large
quantities in cells. We also often did tests on new viruses to
determine survivability of the virus on inanimate objects.  For the
most part,  enveloped viruses such as hantavirus are very labile and
quickly die outside of a living cell. No viruses are free living
animals. They only contain some nucleic acid and a few proteins and
must reproduce inside of a living cell. They can only survive briefly
outside of a cell. This is particularly true of the ones that are
surrounded by an envelope. The envelope is a very thin membrane
similar to the cell membrane. It is very sensitive to all kinds of
disinfectants, drying, sunlight, and heat. Just give them a few days
and they are dead. We spent a lot more effort trying to keep viruses
alive in the lab than trying to kill them.

Mouse urine smell is tenacious but viruses are not. Almost any
detergent will kill the hantavirus if they are even still there when
you start your work, which is unlikely..

Respectfully submitted,
Douglas Gregg
Classic Piano Doc
Retired veterinary pathologist
(specialist in virus pathogenesis at Plum Island Animal Disease Center)
Plum Island is the equivalent of the CDC for animal diseases


Message: 3
Date: Sat, 28 Jul 2012 20:47:12 -0700 (PDT)
From:s Thumpe <lclgcnp at yahoo.com>
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: Re:
Message-ID:
        <1343533632.99298.YahooMailMobile at web114702.mail.gq1.yahoo.com>
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Greetings Douglas and anyone else still interested:
     I suggest you search "diseases transmitted by rodents", which
brings up the CDC website, where more than hantavirus is mentioned,
and there seems to be a greater concern about these things than by
some on this list.
Besides the disease issue, though, "there is no accounting for taste":
so if some choose to have pianos in their homes which smell or even
reek of excrement, that&#39;s their business. But I am not one, and
neither are those whom I would choose to have for customers.
That&#39;s my right, is it not? So I ask you to please do some
self-examining, to discern exactly why this issue raises your hackles
so? If it is a concern for me but not for you,
why should that make you angry?

Thumpe
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