RI, MA EHS Pest Control Blog

RODENTS & MICE

Visitors who stayed in some of the dwellings in June, July and August, may have been exposed to the disease that also caused two other people to fall ill.

The rustic tent cabins of Yosemite National Park have become the scene of a public health crisis after two visitors died from a rodent-borne disease following overnight stays.

On Tuesday, park officials sent letters and emails to 1,700 visitors who stayed in some of the dwellings in June, July and August, warning them that they may have been exposed to the disease that also caused two other people to fall ill.

Those four people contracted hantavirus pulmonary syndrome after spending time in one of the 91 “Signature Tent Cabins” at Curry Village around the same time in June. The illness is spread by contact with rodent feces, urine and saliva, or by inhaling exposed airborne particles.

After the first death, the park sanitized the cabins and alerted the public through the media that the cause might have been diseased mice in the park.

However, officials did not know for sure the death was linked to Yosemite or the campsite until the Centers for Disease Control determined over the weekend that a second visitor, a resident of Pennsylvania, also had died.

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

A Bay Area man has died after contracting the rare hantavirus - a viral infection carried by mice and passed to humans by the rodents' feces or urine - that he was probably exposed to while staying in Yosemite's popular Curry Village tent cabins, public health officials said Thursday.

The 37-year-old man, whose name and hometown were not released, died in late July, about six weeks after his stay in Yosemite National Park. Another visitor to the park, a woman in her 40s who lives in Southern California, also became sick with hantavirus but is expected to survive, according to the state Public Health Department.

The woman and the Bay Area man were in Yosemite at the same time in mid-June and staying in cabins about 100 feet from each other, but did not know each other, Yosemite officials said.

Lab tests taken after the two fell ill confirmed that the virus was present in fecal matter from mice trapped near Curry Village, a collection of tents and cabins in the eastern end of Yosemite Valley.

"The mice shed the virus in urine, in feces, and when the urine or feces, or nests, are disturbed, the virus can become airborne and infect people," said Vicki Kramer, chief of the state health agency's vector-borne disease section.

Both victims suffered from hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. It can take up to two weeks for symptoms to appear after exposure to hantavirus.

Most people suffer flu-like symptoms first, including fever, headache and muscle pains, often in the thighs, back and hips. After two to seven days, many patients have severe difficulty breathing and can die.

There is no cure or virus-specific treatment for hantavirus. Patients typically are hospitalized and get help breathing while their body tries to fight off the virus.

'Bad options'

"It's supportive treatment only. We have pretty unacceptably bad options for treating hantavirus," said Dr. D. Scott Smith, chief of infectious disease and geographic medicine at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Redwood City.

"By the time someone comes in with a bad cough and a fever, sometimes it's too late."

There have been about 60 cases of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome reported in California since the virus was identified in the United States in 1993. About a third of those patients died. So far this year, there have been four cases of hantavirus reported in California.

The virus is most commonly seen in the eastern Sierra and is rare in lower-elevation parts of the state. These two most recent cases are the first ever to be reported from Yosemite Valley, although the national park has had two cases in past years, both in visitors to the higher-elevation Tuolumne Meadows, said park spokesman Scott Gediman.

In California, the virus is spread primarily via deer mice, which have solid-colored backs and white bellies and generally live at higher elevations. Yosemite officials regularly monitor the activity of deer mice in the park, and crews that clean tent cabins are instructed to inspect rooms for mouse droppings, Gediman said.

No infestations

After the recent hantavirus cases were connected to the park, officials with the state Public Health Department and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention visited Yosemite and found no evidence of mouse infestations or unclean lodgings, Gediman said.

He and public health officials advised visitors to Yosemite and elsewhere in the Sierra to take precautions against contracting hantavirus.

People should avoid leaving food in the open, which can draw mice, and they should avoid contact with mouse feces or nests.

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

HantaVirus Found in Trapped Rodents

Six rodents trapped during routine monitoring in the last week in North County and East County have tested positive for the potentially-deadly hantavirus.

Infected rodents rarely pose a danger to people if they are in the wild and there has been just one non-fatal human case in the county, in 2004. But people can inhale hantavirus by stirring up rodent droppings, then get sick and even die. There is no treatment, vaccine or cure for hantavirus infections, which are deadly in 38 percent of cases.

“People should never sweep up or vacuum rodent droppings or nesting material when they find it,” said Jack Miller, director of the County Department of Environmental Health. “Instead, they should ventilate closed areas for at least 30 minutes, and then carefully use bleach or a full-strength disinfectant before removing them.”

The best way people can prevent the disease is to keep mice out of houses, garages and sheds by sealing holes larger than the size of a dime, County officials said.

Hantavirus can cause hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS), which begins with flu-like symptoms but can grow into severe breathing difficulties and even death.

The rodents that tested positive during the last week included: two deer mice from Campo; one deer mouse each from Carlsbad and Escondido; one harvest mouse from Oceanside and a vole from Carlsbad. Thirty-seven rodents have tested positive for hantavirus in the county this year, compared to 21 in 2010.

Source: Associated Press

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA

Mouse Virus Kills Montauk Man

A task as simple as vacuuming out the basement after a flood may have cost a Montauk man his life.

Chiropractor David Hartstein, 35, died last week from a rare lung infection blamed on contamination from infected mice and rodents.

According to public health professionals, humans can become infected by inhaling microscopic particles of diseased rodent droppings, urine or saliva.

Hartstein's death from Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome has shocked neighbors who saw him alive and seeing patients as recently as last Thursday.

"I was supposed to see him again Saturday," said Charles Flynn, who told NBC New York he still couldn't believe it.

Hantavirus is rare and sporadic. This case marks only the second confirmed and deadly incidence in New York state in the last 15 years.

Health officials have said they believe this case is isolated, but have also urged Suffolk County residents to take precautions against mice and rodent infestations in their homes.

Among the recommendations: store food in closed containers and seal tiny holes and spaces in floors, walls and under doors.

Symptoms of contamination may not manifest for up to five weeks. Physical signs include high fever, muscle pain, coughing and headaches. Respiratory problems may worsen after a few days and can prove fatal.

"It is devastating," said Geeta Jirham, one of Hartstein's neighbors.

Health officials have advised against contact with rodent droppings or urine. Any cleanup should be done with rubber gloves and a solution of detergent and bleach, and the debris deposited in a double-sealed plastic bag for disposal.

Source: Online NewsPress

George Williams
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA

Rodent-Borne Virus Blamed in Death

A rare rodent-borne illness killed a 35-year-old chiropractor last week in Montauk, N.Y., state officials said Thursday.

David Hartstein started feeling ill nearly two weeks ago, according to Juline Godin, a close friend of his widow, Heather. At first, he and his wife thought it was the flu or Lyme disease. But before dawn on June 17, Hartstein had trouble breathing and started shaking and sweating, Godin said.

His wife called an ambulance that took him to Southampton Hospital, where his condition continued to deteriorate quickly as doctors scrambled to figure out what was wrong, Godin said. Hartstein died that evening.

Hartstein’s death is just the second confirmed case of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome in the state since 1995, according to the New York Department of Health. The other case was also fatal. There were 20 confirmed hantavirus cases nationwide in 2010 — mostly in the West, according to the department.

The lung infection is caused by a microbe sometimes found in the rodent droppings, saliva or urine. Health officials said Hartstein’s death appears to be an isolated case.

Family and friends suspect that Hartstein inhaled microscopic particles containing the virus while vacuuming out his family’s basement after a small flood nearly a month ago, Godin said.

Godin described Hartstein as a popular figure among East End surfers who was known for walking around town with his dog, a Rhodesian ridgeback named Naya. He and his wife had three young children, all under the age of six.

“He was a very cared-for member of the community,” Godin said. “Everybody knew him as Dr. Dave with the Rhodesian ridgeback.”

The family is staying with friends in the area while their house is cleaned and tested for more hantavirus particles, Godin said.

Source: Metropolis.com

George Williams
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA