Hantavirus Exposure from Baby Wild Deer Mouse

Question
Dear Natasha,
Like Breezy, we also brought home a wild orphaned white-footed deer mouse on Labor Day (eyes closed) from north central PA and successfully managed to feed her with kitten replacement formula, then weaned her to water and mouse/rat food. She learned to drink out of a water bottle and grew quite well. We had her for a total of five weeks and today I released her into the woods.  She was constantly climbing onto the top of the carrier and trying to escape.  I went onto the web to find out about life-span in captivity vs wild, but ended up with hantavirus information which, quite frankly, has scared me very much.   I know from your previous posts that this is a rare disease, but deer mice are definitely vectors for the virus and I am panicking that I exposed my family to it.  Do you know how mice get exposed to the virus in the first place, and would a 7 day old baby mouse be less likely to carry it because presumably it was in one place and dependent on it's mother?  Do mother mice pass the virus to the baby mice in the nest.  Our little one was very cute and it was practically a miracle that she survived, but now I am concerned that I made a bad decision the day we found her.  Your thoughts on risk from baby mouse exposure?

Answer
Dear Melissa,

Mice do not get hantavirus from their mothers, so the chances are slim to none that your mouse was a carrier.  Still, if you develop severe flu symptoms in the next 3 weeks or so, do see a doctor and mention you had contact with a baby mouse.  

Thanks for saving the little mouse!

squeaks,

Natasha