Hantavirus

[MuffyBee]

http://www.cdc.gov/hantavirus/
Hantavirus

Infection with hantavirus can progress to Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS), which can be fatal. People become infected through contact with hantavirus-infected rodents or their urine and droppings. The Sin Nombre hantavirus, first recognized in 1993, is one of several New World hantaviruses circulating in the US. Old World hantaviruses, found in Asia, can cause Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome (HFRS). Rodent control in and around the home remains the primary strategy for preventing hantavirus infection. All cases of Hantavirus infection are reported to and researched by the Viral Special Pathogens Branch (VSPB) of the CDC.
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[MuffyBee]

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/08/hantavirus-outbreak-at-yosemite-considered-unprecedented.html
Hantavirus outbreak at Yosemite considered 'unprecedented'
August 29, 2012

Health officials described the outbreak of hantavirus at Yosemite National Park as rare as the park took steps to warn the public.

Jana McCabe, a Yosemite park ranger, called the hantavirus outbreak "unprecedented."

"We take this extremely seriously," she said. "We want to know what's going on."

After learning that a Pennsylvania visitor's death was caused by hantavirus, Yosemite officials sent emails Monday evening to those who stayed in the "signature tent cabins" in Curry Village between mid-June and late August, said park spokesman Scott Gediman. Letters were sent to visitors whose email addresses were not on record.

The fatality marked the third confirmed case of the rare rodent-borne disease linked to the park. Last week, park officials said a 37-year-old Bay Area man had died and an Inland Empire woman in her 40s was recovering after being exposed to the virus. Park officials believe there may be a fourth case but had yet to receive confirmation Tuesday.

All four stayed separately at the signature tent cabins in June, Gediman said. Officials have traced the outbreak to deer mouse droppings in the area.

Repeated cases of hantavirus at the same location within a year is "very rare," said Dr. Barbara Knust, an epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There have been 587 cases of human infection from hantavirus recorded between 1993, when the virus was first identified in the Four Corners area, and 2011, according to the CDC. About one-third have been fatal.
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Video at Link

[MuffyBee]

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/08/more-cases-of-hantavirus-at-yosemite-some-camp-cabins-closed.html
More cases of hantavirus at Yosemite; some camp cabins closed
August 29, 2012

The number of hantavirus cases linked to Yosemite National Park rose Thursday as authorities said three more cases of the rare, rodent-borne disease have been confirmed.

The California Department of Public Health announced two new cases and confirmed reports of the death of a Pennsylvania man and a non-fatal case involving a Californian, bringing the total number of cases linked to the park to six.

Two people — the Pennsylvania man and a California man — have died. The remaining cases all involve California residents who are recovering, said Yosemite spokeswoman Kari Cobb.

Officials have shut down the 91 "signature tent cabins" in Curry Village, where they traced some cases to deer mouse droppings found in the area. The first three victims all stayed in cabins within 100 feet of one another in mid-June. Cobb said officials are still trying to determine where the other victims stayed.

Only 587 hantavirus cases have been confirmed in the U.S. between 1993 and 2011. About one-third of those cases have been fatal.
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[MuffyBee]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kke7qAGWFQ
How to Survive a Hantavirus


Published on Aug 30, 2012 by UCSFPublicAffairs

http://www.ucsf.edu/news/2012/08/12648/hantavirus-be-careful-not-fearful
UCSF's Charles Chiu, MD, PhD, discusses hantavirus, a potentially fatal virus transmitted by rodents such as deer mice, which is making news following an outbreak at a popular tourist area of Yosemite National Park. The recent cases are a reminder for campers to be cautious, but not necessarily fearful, said Chiu.

Previous hantavirus cases in Yosemite had originated at higher elevations, which are favored by the deer mouse that carries the virus, said Chiu, who directs the UCSF-Abbott Viral Diagnostics and Discovery Center. Other rodents, including house mice, are rarely if ever carriers of the virus.

Video by Jason Socrates Bardi
Twitter: @jasonbardi

   

[MuffyBee]

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/09/yosemite-hantavirus-puts-up-to-10000-at-risk-visitors-worried.html
Yosemite hantavirus puts up to 10,000 at risk; visitors worried
September 1, 2012

The announcement Friday that 10,000 people were at risk for contracting hantavirus after staying in Yosemite National Park this summer heightened concerns for some visitors to the park.

Park officials said they had sent letters and emails to about 3,100 people who reserved one of the 91 "signature tent cabins" in the park's popular Curry Village between June 10 and Aug. 24. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention alert — issued through its health advisory network, which reaches healthcare providers as well as health departments — said that an estimated 10,000 people stayed in the tents during that time.
 ::snipping2::
Six confirmed cases of the rare, rodent-borne disease have been linked to the park, officials said. Four have been traced to the tent cabins; the remaining two were still under investigation, Yosemite spokesman Scott Gediman said Friday.

The letters warn recipients to seek immediate medical attention if they or anyone in their party start to show symptoms of the disease.

The park also set up an emergency phone line Tuesday that drew 900 calls its first day, Yosemite spokeswoman Kari Cobb said.

The final guests were moved from the cabins Tuesday, Gediman said. By Friday, all tents had been cleaned and retrofitted to repair gaps in the walls that might allow virus-carrying deer mice to get inside.

Officials are still waiting to see if the efforts are successful at keeping the mice out. If not, Gediman said, the cabins could be moved or closed permanently.
 ::snipping2::

[klaasend]

This is really scary.  It can take so long for symptoms to show.

[MuffyBee]

And there's no cure.   

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/wva-health-officials-report-hantavirus-death-17173972#.UEkkv6DBnIU
Hantavirus Kills Third Yosemite National Park Camper
September 6, 2012

 Health officials say a West Virginia resident has died from the outbreak of a rodent-borne illness linked to Yosemite National Park.

Kanawha-Charleston Health Department director Dr. Rahul Gupta withheld the victim's name at a news conference Thursday. Gupta says the victim had visited the park since June.

Last week, Yosemite National Park officials said up to 10,000 people who stayed in certain cabins might have been exposed to hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. Gupta says the virus has now killed three people and sickened five others.
 ::snipping2::

[MuffyBee]

http://vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/06/13710552-12000-more-at-risk-of-hantavirus-in-yosemite-outbreak?lite
12,000 more at risk of hantavirus in Yosemite outbreak
September 6, 2012

 ::snipping2::
U.S. officials had sounded a worldwide alert earlier this week, saying that up to 10,000 people were thought to be at risk of contracting hantavirus pulmonary syndrome after staying at the popular Curry Village camping area between June and August.

Yosemite spokesman Scott Gediman said the park was now expanding the warning to include another 12,000 people who stayed, or were still registered to stay, in the more remote High Sierra Camps, an area where visitors had not previously been considered to be at risk.
 ::snipping2::
Yosemite announced the expanded warning as it confirmed that a third park visitor had died of the disease and that the number of U.S. visitors to the park in California sickened by the virus had risen to eight.

One of those was a man who stayed in the High Sierra camps this summer and was diagnosed with a mild case of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, Gediman said. The other seven U.S. visitors fell ill after staying in double-walled tent cabins in the Curry Village campground, located in a lower-elevation area of the park.

Health officials in France were also investigating two suspected hantavirus cases there of people who may have been exposed while at Yosemite.
 ::snipping2::
The World Health Organization also issued a global alert this week over the cases of hantavirus linked to Yosemite, and advised travelers to avoid exposure to rodents. Officials are concerned that more Yosemite visitors could develop the lung disease in the next month or so.

There is no cure for the disease, which kills over a third of those infected, but early detection through blood tests greatly increases survival rates.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57510794/yosemite-park-reacts-to-hantavirus-cases/
Did Park Service do enough to warn Yosemite visitors of hantavirus risk?
September 11, 2012

(CBS News) YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. - There has been an outbreak of hantavirus, a deadly disease spread by rodents. More than 22,000 people who visited Yosemite National Park since June have now been warned they should get tested. There have been eight confirmed cases and three people have died. One of the survivors said the warnings came too late.
 ::snipping2::
Hantavirus is contracted by breathing airborne particles from droppings and urine of infected deer mice. One to six weeks after exposure, victims suffer flu-like symptoms. Lungs can become filled with fluid; breathing can become difficult. More than one-third of victims die from the disease.

Nicole Lapeyrade fell seriously ill with hantavirus after a July trip to Yosemite with her family, including five children. She's heard nothing from the park about the disease -- not before her visit, not after she reported the results of her blood test.

"I'm disappointed about the park's lack of response," she said, "and the seemingly lack of concern for the public welfare."
 ::snipping2::
"As a park, we feel that we've taken appropriate steps to notify individuals," said Kari Cobb, a Yosemite park ranger.

"It wasn't something that we posted in our most prevalent places," she added. "In the last 100 years, we've literally only had two cases aside from this cluster of eight. It wasn't something that Public Health thought was a major problem and it wasn't something that the park thought was a major problem."

One case of hantavirus is rare; eight cases in one location is unprecedented. One theory is that tourists and all their food are feeding a population boom of infected mice.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-hantavirus-mystery-20120911,0,2952749.story
Doctors still trying to diagnose mysteries of hantavirus
Nearly 20 years after hantavirus was first identified in the U.S., doctors are under pressure to quickly learn more about the pervasive and deadly disease.
September 10, 2012

[MuffyBee]

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/09/hantavirus-in-yosemite-9th-case-reported-as-another-visitor-sickened.html
Hantavirus in Yosemite: Ninth case reported in another visitor
September 13, 2012

Another person was sickened by hantavirus traced to Yosemite National Park, the latest in an outbreak that has grown to nine cases and has killed three visitors since mid-June.

The latest case, which sickened a California resident, is believed to have originated in one of Curry Village's signature tent cabins in early July, park spokesman Scott Gediman said. A total of eight cases have been linked to the insulated signature tent cabins; the other to the High Sierra Loop that connects Yosemite Valley with Tuolumne Meadows and other areas.

But the latest case differs from the others in that it was considered a “hantavirus infection,” officials said. Although very rare, some hantavirus cases don't show the respiratory symptoms found in hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, according to the California Department of Public Health.

The eight other cases tied to Yosemite developed into the full-fledged hantavirus pulmonary syndrome.

The person with the hantavirus infection has since recovered, Gediman said. The park received confirmation of the case Thursday morning.
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[MuffyBee]

http://www.ktvu.com/news/news/health-med-fit-science/hantavirus/nSM3L/
Park employees at Yosemite submit to hantavirus testing
September 26, 2012

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. —

Workers at Yosemite National Park were tested Wednesday for hantavirus and have been ordered not to talk about the testing publicly.

California health officials tested 100 employees on a voluntary basis. There have been nine confirmed cases traced to summer visitors at the park who stayed in certain tent cabins. Three of those victims have died.

The virus is spread by exposure to infected deer mice.

For Wednesday's tests, workers filled out a questionnaire and gave blood.
 ::snipping2::
While park employees wait to find out more about Wednesday's testing and the comprehensive testing coming up, visitors will also become very familiar with hantavirus. Along with information about water safety and bears, warnings about hantavirus will now be permanently included in visitor packets.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.scpr.org/news/2012/10/17/34652/scientists-ask-yosemite-employees-help-their-hunt-/
Scientists ask Yosemite employees for help in their hunt for more hantavirus clues
October 17, 2012

The worst appears over at Yosemite National Park where an unprecedented outbreak of Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome this summer sickened nine park visitors, killing three of them.

But many questions still remain. To help answer them, the California Department of Public Health has invited up 2,500 Yosemite National Park employees to undergo voluntary blood tests and interviews this week as a way to uncover clues in the nation’s first known "cluster" outbreak of Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome.

"There’s a lot we don’t know about this disease so we hope we can shed some new light on some aspect of it by focusing on the employee population," said Barbara Materna is chief of the Occupational Health Branch at the California Department of Public Health, which is conducting this week’s blood tests. "It’s just a unique opportunity to learn more about preventing this disease."

All but one of the Yosemite victims appears to have contracted the rodent-borne lung infection after staying in the Curry Village “signature” tent cabins, which authorities permanently closed on August 24.
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[MuffyBee]

http://blogs.seattletimes.com/today/2012/10/grant-county-reports-hantavirus-death/
Grant County reports hantavirus death
October 17, 2012

MOSES LAKE — The Grant County Health District has confirmed that a woman who died there last month likely died of hantavirus.

The health district says the woman was most likely exposed to the virus in her recreational vehicle south of Moses Lake. This is the second hantavirus-related death in Grant County this year.

The two cases are not linked and the district says there is no increased risk to the public.
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The health district says that since 1993, there have been 45 reported cases of the virus in the state, and 16 of those patients died.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.columbiabasinherald.com/news/article_9dcfb476-1951-11e2-974d-001a4bcf887a.html
Second hantavirus death reported in Grant County
Unidentified woman died in September
October 19, 2012



MOSES LAKE - State health officials confirmed a Grant County woman who died in September probably died of hantavirus. Grant County Health District officials received confirmation of the diagnosis recently, releasing the information Wednesday.
The woman most likely was exposed in a family recreational vehicle south of Moses Lake, according to a press release from the health district. While this is the second hantavirus death in the county in 2012, health district officials said that fact doesn't indicate there's an increased risk to the public.
"The real important thing is, there isn't any indication there is an outbreak," said Theresa Adkinson, the district's public information officer.
Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome is spread by rodents, found in their urine, droppings and saliva. Not all species carry it; deer mice are the only carriers in Washington. State Department of Health officials estimate about 14 percent of deer mice in the state are infected.
"People can become sick with hantavirus by breathing in the air particles stirred up from rodent droppings or nests; there is no evidence the virus is spread person-to-person," the Department of Health press release explains.
Hantavirus symptoms can take up to six weeks to appear, and it's fatal in about one-third of the cases, according to the press release.
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