BEWARE of rat droppings! This is the urgent message I received from a friend of mine who related the following story in his e-mail communication to me:

A stock clerk was sent to clean up a storeroom in Hawaii. When he got back, he was complaining that the storeroom was really filthy. He had noticed dried rat droppings in some areas of the facility. A couple of days later, he felt like he was coming down with stomach flu. The symptoms included aching joints, headache and vomiting. He went to bed and never got up again. Within two days he was ill and weak. His blood sugar count went down to 66 and his face and eyeballs turned yellow.

He was rushed to the emergency room of a hospital where they said he was suffering from massive organ failure. The doctor in the ER recommended that he be transferred to St. Francis Hospital and told all his relatives that the patient did not have long to live.

In the ICU at St. Francis Hospital, a team of doctors tried desperately to stabilize his condition. They said that, even if by some miracle he pulled through, he would need a new liver, kidneys, pancreas and bladder. The patient died shortly before midnight.

No one would have immediately made the connection between his job and his death. But the doctors specifically asked if he had been in a warehouse or had been exposed to dried rat droppings at any time. They explained that there is a virus (much like the Hanta virus) that exists in rat droppings. Once dried, these droppings are like dust and can easily be inhaled or ingested if a person doesn't wash his hands and face thoroughly, or wear protective gear.

Please be extremely careful to always rinse off the tops of any canned drinks or food and wipe off pasta packaging, cereal boxes, etc. Almost everything you buy in a supermarket has been stored in a warehouse at one time or another, and stores themselves often have rodents. Whenever you buy any canned softdrink, please make sure you wash the top with running water and soap, or if not possible, drink with a straw.

A family friend's friend died after drinking a contaminated can of soda. Apparently, she did not clean the top before drinking from the can. The top was encrusted with dried rat's urine, which is toxic and lethal. Canned drinks and other foodstuffs are stored in warehouses that are usually infested with rodents and then get transported to retail outlets without being properly cleaned.

I appreciated this practical warning given by my friend. Indeed, we all have to be more careful about the cleanliness not only of our environment but also of our food, its packaging, and even its storage.

It is widely known that cleanliness is next to godliness. Purification of one's existence does not only pertain to the internal but also to the external. When a person is concerned about pleasing the Supreme Being, he takes care of his health and environment to be able to serve the Lord well.