squirrel to human virus question!!!! please help!!! pregnant woman concerned

[Zabbo1]

hello squirrel friends,

i was contacted today by a woman in california who has raised a red fox squirrel since it was a pinky. its now 15mos old. this woman is also pregnant and was told by her doctor that she needed to get rid of the squirrel because squirrels carry viruses that can kill or cause mental retardation in unborn children!!!! obviously, this startled her. she doesnt want to jeopardize her babies health but also doesnt want to part with her squirrel. so i thought id reach out to the squirrel board for help. one of the viruses mentioned was lymphocytic choriomeningitis

any info is appreciated.

jamie

[stepnstone]

hello squirrel friends,
i was contacted today by a woman in california who has raised a red fox squirrel since it was a pinky. its now 15mos old. this woman is also pregnant and was told by her doctor that she needed to get rid of the squirrel because squirrels carry viruses that can kill or cause mental retardation in unborn children!!!! obviously, this startled her. she doesnt want to jeopardize her babies health but also doesnt want to part with her squirrel. so i thought id reach out to the squirrel board for help. one of the viruses mentioned was lymphocytic choriomeningitis any info is appreciated.
jamie

Unfortunately squirrels are thrown under the category of "rodent," the doctor is generalizing, and he's an idiot!
I wouldn't doubt he laid the old rabies scare on her too... Outside the necessity of keeping the squirrel away from her
new born baby which should just be common sense, there is no reason for her to get rid of her squirrel in my opinion.
You might find this read on the subject interesting...
http://exoticpets.about.com/od/healthandsafetyissues/p/lcmrodents.htm

[island rehabber]

If emperical evidence is worth anything, I've been here on TSB for almost 11 years. So many squirrel-loving, squirrel-handling members have been pregnant and so many babies born throughout those years I've lost count, but never did anyone have any kind of problem. stepnstone is right.....the doctor is generalizing and fear-mongering, sorry to say.

(The media had everyone in the country panicking about the hanta virus one year, because it's carried by mice and everyone's got mice once in awhile, right? But certainly every mouse does not carry the hanta virus! :shakehead)

[Birdy]

Hi, I've been raising a squirrel for the past 4 months and am now seven and a half months pregnant. Every pregnancy scan has been absolutely fine and my OB had no problems with me handling the squirrel. In fact she's more obsessed with what's happening with the squirrel than the baby! I did a bunch of research and came away certain that squirrels do not carry anything that poses a risk to humans or their fetuses.

Good luck to your friend and sorry for the unnecessary stress she was caused!

[TubeDriver]

There are always risk with zoonotic diseases when dealing with pets and wild animals. In general, there are REMARKABLY few reports of people getting sick from squirrels (and there are a SURPRISINGLY large amounts of squirrel bites in the general population). The two main things that I would worry about with a pregnant women would be LCMV and Leptospirosis. Both diseases generally will not harm a healthy adult (although in 10% or so, there can be serious complications) but these do present a hazard to a developing fetus. A pregnant women should be extra careful around urine, fecal matter and should practice the normal safety precautions when handling animals or cleaning up after them. In particular, hand washing with warm water and soap s about the single best thing to practice frequently.

You can send a sample of your animals poop/urine to a vet (if you are a rehabber) or mail it to several online lab testing services (does not matter if you are are rehabber or not) who can perform a PCR test to see if your animal has LCMV or Leptospirosis. The cost is generally about $25-30 per analysis.

[Trooper]

To add on what has already been said, this is a case of "possibility" versus "probability". Squirrels as members of the rodentia species, it is "possible" for them to catch lymphocytic choriomeningitis from a wild house mouse - the most common vector of this disease- however the "probability" that this pregnant woman's squirrel may have caught the virus from a house mouse infected with it, is for sure very low.

A more intelligent assessment by her doctor would have been: does she and the squirrel live in suburban/farming area where abundance of wild mouse is likely?; does the squirrel wonders outside the home in the wild or backyard exposed to any passing animal?; does the squirrel have any symptoms of the disease? , etc. If any answer where to be doubtful, a judgment call could be made.

Couldn't she place the squirrel with a friend until the baby is born?

I wish her good luck!

Trooper's dad