Hantavirus at Yosemite Park - it’s more than “a walk in the park” with this microbe

Mouse droppings.  No one intends to have contact with mouse droppings, but they might be camouflaged in the camping environment, fooling the unsuspecting camper. Yosemite National Park is a beautiful place to experience nature’s grandeur.  Unfortunately, recent campers at Yosemite who occupied some luxury cabins in the woods at Curry Village in Yosemite Valley have developed hantavirus pulmonary syndrome.  Two people died from this infection. California health officials are urging recent visitors with flu-like symptoms, to seek medical help.

Hantavirus can be found in the feces, urine and saliva of deer mice and other rodents. Rodents call the woods “home” and Yosemite is home to many.  Investigators found 18% of the mice they trapped in Yosemite were infected with hantavirus.  The design of the new luxury cabins at Curry Village contributed to the rodent infestations.  The walls are plywood or drywall in the inside and a canvas exterior with insulation in between.  The mice nest in the walls. Deer mice which are more prone to carry hantavirus are distinguished from solid-colored house mice by their white bellies and gray/brown bodies.  They can squeeze through holes only an inch in diameter. 

Hantavirus was first identified in 1993 in the USA in the Southwest. CDC reports that 600 cases of hantavirus have been identified since 1993 – most of them in Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Washington, and California.  Hantavirus can cause serious respiratory illness and kills 36 per cent of the people who become infected. 

Mouse droppings happen.  Be aware of hantavirus!

This entry was posted on August 31st, 2012 at 12:00 am. RSS | Back to Blog Homepage.

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