Arcade machines and hantavirus?

TheDrewster

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Last April when I bought my Centipede and Paperboy, I opened my Paperboy up to find several dead deer mice along with their home and food. Freaking out, I vacuumed the machine out, drenched the cabinet in lysol and threw the vacuum away. I always had the thought that they could have had the hantavirus and that vacuuming it might not have been the best thing to. Several weeks passed and I never got sick, so I got lucky.

But today, I disassembled my Pole Position and as I was vacuuming up the dust and dirt, I started seeing stains in the wood along with evidence of droppings. This time I really freaked out and grabbed the trusty lysol again, but this time I had already stirred up a bunch of dust and probably inhaled a good sample of it. I have owned the game for about a month and a half now and have already buried my head inside the machine several times making repairs prior to today's cleaning.

So, IF the machine had already been infected with hantavirus, should I have already gotten sick by exposing myself during previous repairs? Or have I really done it now? Anybody have any experience with something similar?
 
frizzy got wicked staff infection on his leg form getting scraped by a tempest cab... it got to the point that there was like a 10cm hole in his leg !!! that was rare...


DUDE.. a little bleachwater(or lysol) and your good..

WHen i have one thats particulatly nasty i wear a mask, then vacuum, clean the vacuum outside, then spray the cab witrh bleach or lysol, then your good to go.


Most cabs even if it has mice in it if its "old" as in they were there 10 years ago i dont think you have to worry about it.


Iv ehad some of the sickest cabs out there and so far none have made me sick, and most are me lazy no lysol just a vacuum no mask...
 
while its probably a good idea to use a dust mask or respirator when cleaning cabinets infested by mice, it's unlikely the virus can last very long without a suitable host and if the droppings, bedding, or bodies aren't fresh there's little chance of infection.
 
Growing up as a kid in a huge block of brick houses with a lot of mice I never had any problem.
My bed had two large drawers underneith it and there was some stuff in there like pyjama and some toys, lots of dust and often mice.
They crawled out of holes in the corners etc.. and they just loved that space under my bed.
Sometimes they were all active and they kept me out of my sleep and I had to bang the side of the bed to scare em off.
I even found one that was sick once and dumb as I was I tried to make it better by putting it in a shoe box and keeping it in my coat when I went outside not realising it was a wild one and not like the ones from the pet shop.
It died in 3 days.

Anyway I never got sick being exposed to all of this not even holding and taking care of a sick mouse that was a goner from the start cause it was so sick.
I hope this will make you feel a whole lot better.
 
From what I've heard of it, the virus can only live for a few days in the contaminated dust/dirt.

Try tasting one of the rat turds. Is it soft and moist or crispy crunchy. If it snap, crackles and pops on your tongue then you should be safe.
 
Don't worry I'm paranoid like you and living in the Soutwest I too think about Hanta when ever I clean out something and find evidence or rodents. Just keep in mind that Hanta is rare and take the proper precautions as stated above..
 
Man up Nancy :) -joking-

I think it is more important to make sure you are up to date on your tetanus shots.
 
Honestly I don't worry about dead mice I have accidentally touched dead ones while pulling wires through ceilings (oh whats this thing ah crap... (drops Mummified mouse). I would use Bleach honestly I don't think Lysol will sink deep enough in the wood. If your really worried about it after the Bleach water wipe down use some polyurethane and seal the wood up.
 
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