(Not sure if this is the right place to post this, so please move it mods if its not, thanks)

For the past 2-3 weeks, i have noticed amongst friends and friends of people i know, that Rodents, from Hamsters, Mice, and even Rabbits have all been dying in a fairly frequent amount.

Most of the people i know who own Hamsters have had them all die in the past 2-3 weeks. One person in particular, owned a hamster that died, and after about 10 days bought a new mouse and the mouse died after a few days.

I understand that it's cold at the moment, and that temperatures are much lower, even in heated houses, but i think Syrian hamsters live in a desert environment in the wild, and at night it must get as cold there. Also, my girlfriend is one of the people who has lost a Hamster, and her house is usually very warm.

I don't think, because of the sheer amount of deaths i've heard about, they can all be attributed to environmental causes, which has left me wondering about what is causing this?

The only thing i can think of is that there is possibly a flu type virus effecting the rodent population. If so, there has been nothing in the media about it (but then what could they do, apart from cause a slight panic for pet owners?).