RI, MA EHS Pest Control Blog

A West Virginian is the third person to die so far from a rodent-borne illness linked to some tent cabins at Yosemite National Park that has now stricken eight people in all, health officials said Thursday.

Five people are ill from the outbreak reported last week by park officials, who said that up to 10,000 guests could have been exposed to hantavirus pulmonary syndrome from sleeping in the cabins since June 10.

Alerts from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sent to public-health agencies, doctors and hospitals have turned up other suspected cases that have not yet been confirmed. This week, the European CDC and the World Health Organization issued global alerts for all travelers to avoid exposure to rodents.

Dr. Rahul Gupta, director of the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department, said the West Virginia victim had visited the park since June but declined to give more details, citing the family's wish to grieve in private.

The other deaths occurred in California and Pennsylvania. Those who were sickened also were from California, and the National Park Service said Wednesday they were either improving or recovering.

Seven of the cases involved guests at the insulated "signature" cabins in the park's historic Curry Village section. The California Department of Public Health said the other case involved someone who stayed in several High Sierra Camps in a different area of Yosemite in July.

Yosemite officials said the cabins have been closed and the park is reaching out to guests who have stayed in the cabins.

Gupta declined to elaborate on whether anyone was traveling with the Kanawha County victim, although he said his department knew of no other cases.

"The time has lapsed in a way that it should not be a concern," Gupta said.

Health officials say the disease isn't spread from person to person. There is no cure for the virus, which can affect people of any age. The disease is carried in the feces, urine and saliva of deer mice and other rodents and carried on airborne particles and dust.

People can be infected by inhaling the virus or by handling infected rodents. Infected people usually have flulike symptoms, including fever, shortness of breath, chills and aches. The illness can take six weeks to incubate before rapid acute respiratory and organ failure.

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

Mayor blames open trash cans, threatens citations

People living in one section of North Providence say their neighborhood is infested with rats, and the mayor is threatening citations against residents who attract rodents by leaving their trash cans uncovered.

Eyewitness News cameras spotted two dead rats in a yard in the Marieville section of North Providence Wednesday.

Cheryl Rossi has lived there for forty years, but says the neighborhood never had a rodent problem until recently.

"Sometimes if you're driving up and down the street they'll be dead in the road, in somebody's yard, it's disgusting," said Rossi.

She claims the rats are ruining her family's quality of life.

"They've been in our backyard. I didn't even put up my son's pool this year because of these rats," Rossi added. "They've been up and down the street, and at other peoples houses."

North Providence Mayor Charles Lombardi tells Eyewitness News that food from open trash cans is attracting the rats. He says residents need to make sure their trash is covered to keep the rodents away.

Mayor Lombardi also says the town has hired a professional pest control company to educate residents about what they can do to keep the rats away.

According to the mayor, the next step is to begin citing residents who do not cover their trash.

Mayor Lombardi says the town cannot put out rat poison to kill the rodents, because of liability reasons.

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA

Hey, vermin, don't bogart that evidence!

Wichita police in Kansas are hot on the tail of mice that chewed through bags of marijuana kept in a police storage facility, KMBC reported. The three packages were evidence seized during arrests in 2009.

The rodents apparently nested in the pot and ate some of it. "We've got some mice that are stoners," Police Lt. Doug Nolte said on Thursday. The animals were probably attracted to the scent, he added.

At first look, authorities thought the evidence was tampered with, but some super-sleuthing revealed "that the culprits were operating on a much smaller scale," quipped The Inquisitr.

Still, officials adhered to protocol, photographing the scene, resealing the stash and reweighing it, Nolte told KSN.

The mice remain at large but a precinct artist did produce a sketch of one of the suspects with big ears, little beady eyes and a long tail (see above).

No drawn-out investigation or jury trial will be necessary. An exterminator has been called.