Connecting to Collections Care

Hi everyone,

Our historic house museum, Scotty's Castle, is experiencing higher than average rodent levels this past year and the park's leadership is concerned about hantavirus risk from rodent levels. We are trying to figure out how to effectively neutralize hantavirus in rodent excrement during the cleanup without harming the historic structure. Almost all of the furniture has been removed from the Castle, so the only surface we will need to clean is the terracotta tile floors.

The standard cleaning protocol for hantavirus is to thoroughly wet the droppings with a bleach solution such as Lysol, wait for five minutes, then wipe up the droppings with a paper towel. Does anyone know if following this procedure could cause damage to terracotta tiles? I am planning to test the bleach on a piece of tile before we begin cleanup, and also planning to have the cleaning crew wash off the bleached areas with water to remove any residue.

Are there any other safe hantavirus cleanup measures we should consider? I'd appreciate input from any conservators or people who have experience with hantavirus in historic buildings.

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Kathlyn Guttman
Curatorial Specialist
Death Valley National Park
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Hi Kathlyn!

I posted your question to both the AIHA's Museum and Cultural Heritage forum and the Biological and Microbiological Working Group forum for their thoughts. I'll let you know if they have any additional advice or questions to consider.

Thank you!

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Jessica Ricchio, CHSP
Northwestern Medicine
Northwest Program Leader Workforce Health and Safety
McHenry IL
(815) 701-6365
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Hi Kathlyn,

One of the experts I spoke to had this to say:

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Saira Haqqi (she/they)
Connecting to Collections Care Monitor
Senior Conservator
National Archives and Records Administration
College Park, MD
saira.haqqi@nara.gov
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Kathlyn,

I am an architectural conservator. i looked up Scotty's Castle, and find that it is an early 20th century construction. From images on the website, it seems that the terra cotta tile you are talking about are a material called quarry tile. The properties of these tiles vary depending on their manufacture and how they have been treated over the years. That said, they are durable materials, made for floors, and can typically stand up to water cleaning. Materials containing water-soluble salts in concentration would be a concern. There are numerous disinfectants that could be used; I don't know which ones would be effective on hantavirus.

I would suggest you cross-post to the Architecture Specialty Group community, as that is the place you are likely to get the most useful advice regarding appropriate treatment of the tile. Adding anything you know about surface treatments on the tile would be help inform the discussion

Kind regards,

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Lorraine Schnabel
lorraine@schnabelconservation.com
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The 2 responses I have received so far:

Thanks for sharing, Jessica! This is just to share the Pathogen Safety Data Sheet (Canada) for Hantavirus, which includes chemical and physical inactivation methods. Is heat treatment an option? https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/laboratory-biosafety-biosecurity/pathogen-safety-data-sheets-risk-assessment/hantavirus.html 

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Gina Agron
Health Consultant
Alaska Occupational Safety & Health, Consultation and Training
1251 Muldoon Road, Suite 104
Anchorage, AK 99504
(907)269-4939

While the original question was asking about the potential to use a heat treatment to decontaminate from hantavirus, instead of answering that question, I wanted to pass on the comment to ensure workers used adequate personal protective equipment.  This guidance developed by DoD might be helpful: https://ph.health.mil/PHC%20Resource%20Library/Hantavirus%20Prevention%20Cleanup%20of%20Rodent%20Contamination.pdf

This Mayo Clinic article says that the death rate from hantavirus pulmonary syndrome be 30-50%, so protecting workers from exposure to hantavirus is especially important.  

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Joy Erdman, MS, CIH, CSP
Joy Solutions LLC
Falls Church, VA 22043
Office: (703) 241-7794
Mobile: (703) 598-7529

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Jessica Ricchio
North & Northwest Program Leader Workforce Health and Safety
McHenry IL
(815) 701-6365
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