Hawaiian man died after inhaling dried rat dropping

Lethal Rat Droppings / Rat Urine: Rumor claims a Hawaiian man died after inhaling dried rat droppings and/or inadvertently consuming rat urine.

Description: Email rumor

Circulating since: Sept. 1999

Status: Fictionalized, overblown

Email example contributed by Alpha Lau, Sep. 16, 1999

Subject: Be careful of Rats' droppings.

A stock clerk was sent to clean up a storeroom at their Maui location. He got back 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 had 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 easily be 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.

Caution: 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.

Whenever you buy any canned soft drink, please make sure that you wash the top with running water and soap, or if not available, drink with a straw. A family friend's friend died after drinking can of soda! Apparently, she did not clean the top before drinking from the can. The top was encrusted with dried rat's urine, which is toxic and obviously lethal!!!! canned drinks and other foodstuffs are stored in warehouses and containers that are usually infested with rodents and then get transported to the retail outlets without being properly cleaned.