Bell Environmental recently wrote about how mice found in NYC apartment buildings carry disease-causing bacteria, including a few superbug germs. This is a subject worth revisiting and repeating because the study is alarming and because of the close contact humans have with mice. According to the Columbia University scientists who were quoted in a very good segment by NBC News, New York City mice are “potential reservoirs for pathogenic bacteria” that may spread to humans. The mice seem to be getting these germs from human trash — specifically from food that people throw out. It’s also possible that the mice could transmit these bacteria right back to their human landlords.
These mice carrying these bacteria and viruses don’t discriminate between rich and poor residents, as the rodents live in expensive and more modest apartment buildings. We earlier wrote about how NYC’s Rats Carry an Alarming Number of Pathogens – and given their close contact to people and the city’s growing problems (complaints up 10% in 2014), NYC’s rats could become possible public health nightmare.
The recent study on NYC mice was conducted by Ian Lipkin, a professor of neurology and pathology at Columbia University, who also led the 2014 study of NYC’s rat population. Dr. Lipkin highlighted why this discovery about NYC mice is far more alarming than his 2014 study that showed numerous pathogens in the city’s rat population. “From a public health vantage point, mice are more worrisome because they live indoors and are more likely to contaminate our environment, even if we don’t see them,” Professor Lipkin told NBC News. “They live with us. They eat our food.”
Bell Environmental has seen and solved all types of pest issues in New York and keeps really troubling mice and rat issues from affecting our customers. We’ve even caught the rats that were crawling into a condo-owner’s toilet making his bathroom experience a nightmare. Of course, we also prevented him from having any future issues.
What’s our takeaway from this? NYC’s rodent problems are out of control and coming into contact with this giant population of rodents can cause significant health risks. The good news is that NYC’s pest problems don’t have to cause you issues. Just hire Bell Environmental and our pest control experts will put in place a program to protect you from the city’s woes and be vigilant about maintaining this protection.
With Bell, there are no excuses and no pests. Call Bell to protect your building from NY’s huge pest issues.