Wild mice passing diseases?

[swedishnightingale]

We have a problem with mice in the house -- we had them last year, and they've shown up again. We use humane traps -- including the humane cat who picks them up and carries them to us and spits them out alive!   -- to catch them and release them out in the country, but every year they show up again. They never bothered me, but now that I have my rats, I wonder how easy it would be for them to possibly catch any diseases the mice may carry?

I don't know a lot about wild mice except that people always say leave them alone because they carry disease -- although last year when I took care of a couple who had been hurt in glue traps, they were fine, I was fine, all the other animals were fine. But I'm still a little worried... especially as last year they found the attic that comes off my room a prime place to hide. What should I do?  

[JuliaDC]

I've also been in the process of evicting wild mice. Most of the articles I've read on disease refer to mouse-human transition--a very bad thing if there's hemorraghic fever in your area, although still very unlikely to happen.

I make it a point not to handle the mice and I wash my hands after releasing them from the traps. My guess is the most important thing is to keep them away from the rats. Luckily our mice hang out in the kitchen and the ratties are on the second floor, and their cage is high up on a dresser. I would make sure your mice can't get at the rats or their food.