Soak down all the rodent ontaminated area with a strong disinfectant. Use a disinfectant spray, or household bleach to wet the rodent droppings, food piles and the nest, Nichols said. While wearing gloves, sweep that up without creating dust. Then dispose of all the materials in double plastic bags, and put them in a tight trash container so that children or animals don't get into them, Nichols said. Don't use a vacuum, because they will just stir up the infectious dust, Nichols said.
Precautions are necessary during cleaning because the virus is airbourne.
One of the most fascinating things about hantavirus is that people with limited exposeure to rodents, like a woman cleaning her house, will come down with the disease, but he people who deal with mice on a daily basis, like zoologists, don't come down with the disease. Rodent biologists were tested at a recent convention in Seattle, and none of their blood samples have shown any hantavirus infection, Nichols said.