Prevention of a Seoul virus infection
Learn how to prevent being infected by Seoul virus.
How can a Seoul virus infection be prevented?
There is no vaccine for Seoul virus infection. The key to disease prevention is:
- preventing rodent infestations
- avoiding contact with rodent urine, feces, saliva, and nesting material
- properly cleaning and disinfecting areas contaminated by rodent urine, feces or saliva
Keep your home, workplace, cottage or campsite rodent-free. All rodent feces are potentially harmful. You should:
- block openings that might let rodents in
- store food, water and garbage in containers with tightly fitted lids
- keep your yard clean
- stack woodpiles away from buildings
Properly clean and disinfect areas contaminated by rodent urine, feces or saliva. Follow the steps below.
- Wear rubber or plastic gloves. If you are cleaning in a confined space, wear a high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filtered respirator.
- Do not sweep or vacuum rodent feces. This will release particles into the air, which you could then breathe in.
- Spray feces with a household disinfectant or a mixture of 1 part bleach to 9 parts water. Let the area soak for 10 minutes to make sure any virus within the feces will be killed.
- Wipe up wet feces with paper towels or a wet mop if dealing with a large area.
- Wash gloves in disinfectant and hot soapy water before taking them off. Afterwards, wash your hands thoroughly.
- If a wet mop was used to clean the area, use disinfectant and hot soapy water to clean the mop.
For more information for rat owners, please see:
Know the symptoms of a Seoul virus infection. See a health care provider immediately if they develop.