New mexico hanta virus

Open doors and windows to allow the area to ventilate for at least one hour. Electric fans also can be used to facilitate this process. Finally, clean the area according to previously defined guidelines. Do not be reluctant to seek further information, especially when treating areas heavily infested with rodents or previously known to have hantavirus. These situations require more protection and care according to specific guidelines.

For additional information, contact the New Mexico Department of Health or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Brennand, C. Food Storage, Rodents and Hantavirus.

Burt, W. The Peterson Field Guide Series. Hygnstrom, S. Virchow, and F. Controlling House Mice. Texas Wildlife Damage Management Service.

West, B. Commensal Rodents. Figures 1, 2 and 3: Burt and Grossenheider Figure taken from Western Exterminator Company Bugs and Pests. Available online: www.

Figure 4: Burt and Grossenheider Deer Mouse. The information given herein is supplied with the understanding that no discrimination is intended and no endorsement is implied by NMSU's Cooperative Extension Service. The development of this publication was funded by a grant from the U. Department of the Army. To find more resources for your business, home, or family, visit the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences on the World Wide Web at aces.

Contents of publications may be freely reproduced for educational purposes. All other rights reserved. For permission to use publications for other purposes, contact pubs nmsu. NMSU and the U. Department of Agriculture cooperating. Figure 1. The house mouse. Figure 2. The roof rat. Figure 3. The Norway rat. Figure 4. Adult deer mice Rats and mice are objectionable in many ways.

Signs and Symptoms of Illness Hantavirus symptoms are much like the flu: fever, headache, severe muscle aches, shortness of breath, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and diarrhea.

Contracting Hantavirus Rodents are the only animals known to play a direct role in transmitting hantavirus.

Reducing the Likelihood of Contracting Hantavirus Although once contracted, the virus is not always fatal. Eliminating Rodent Problems The following steps should be followed when eliminating rodents in a domestic or work setting fig.

Figure 5. Steps to eliminate rodents in a domestic or work stetting. Trapping Snap traps with wooden bases are recommended. Rodenticides A baiting program using an approved rodenticide works well when rats and mice are a continual problem; where alternative methods, such as trapping, do not work; and where poisons can be safely used. Frightening Devices Rats and mice can be frightened by loud or unfamiliar sounds.

Removal of Rodent Food Supplies and Shelters Good sanitation is very effective in reducing rat and mice populations in human dwellings or work places. Rodent Exclusion Whenever possible, rodent exclusion is recommended as the most permanent means of control. Cleaning Excreta To protect against hantavirus, never sweep or vacuum rodent droppings.

Cleaning Rodent Nests First, put on latex or rubber gloves. Unfortunately, the first victims of the outbreak were Navajo. News reports focused on this fact, and the misperception grew that the unknown disease was somehow linked to Navajos. By later in the summer of , the media frenzy had quieted somewhat, and the source of the disease was pinpointed. Researchers determined that, like other hantaviruses, the virus that causes HPS is not transmitted from person to person the way other infections, such as the common cold, may be.

The exception to this is an outbreak of HPS in Argentina in Evidence from this outbreak suggests that strains of hantaviruses in South America may be transmissable from person to person. To date, no cases of HPS have been reported in the United States in which the virus was transmitted from one person to another. In fact, in a study of health care workers who were exposed to either patients or specimens infected with related types of hantaviruses which cause a different disease in humans , none of the workers showed evidence of infection or illness.

In Chile and Argentina, rare cases of person-to-person transmission have occurred among close contacts of a person who is ill with a type of hantavirus called Andes virus. After the initial outbreak, the medical community nationwide was asked to report any cases of illness with symptoms similar to those of HPS that could not be explained by any other cause.

As a result, additional cases have been reported. Since , researchers have discovered that there is not just one hantavirus that causes HPS, but several. An investigation was begun. The results led to the discovery of another hantavirus, named Bayou virus, which was linked to a carrier, the rice rat Oryzomys palustris.

In late , a year-old Florida man came down with HPS symptoms; he later recovered. This person also had not traveled to the Four Corners area. A similar investigation revealed yet another hantavirus, named the Black Creek Canal virus, and its carrier, the cotton rat Sigmodon hispidus. Another case occurred in New York. Glass, Gregory E. Cheek, Jonathan A. Patz, Timothy M. Shields, Timothy J.

Doyle, Douglas A. Thoroughman, Darcy K. Hunt, Russell E. Enscore, Kenneth L. Gage, Charles Irland, C. Peters, and Ralph Bryan. Emerging Infectious Diseases. Accessed August 15, Accessed January 9, Nichol, Stuart T.

Emerging Viral Diseases. Land Life Remote Sensing. EO Explorer. At the time of publication, it represented the best available science. Subscribe to our newsletters. On May 14, , a young, physically fit man living in the American Southwest suddenly collapsed. He was rushed to a New Mexico hospital but died of acute respiratory failure within hours. By May 17, medical center officials identified three similar deaths in the Four Corners region where the borders of Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah meet.

All of the victims had been young and otherwise healthy. Images courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention How can you minimize your risk of contracting hantavirus? Three weeks later, the CDC identified the responsible pathogen: hantavirus. This fact sheet answers frequently asked questions about Hantavirus including what it is, what the symptoms are, how it spreads, how long people are contagious, what treatments are available, and how to protect yourself from the virus.

This helpful Hantavirus Prevention Pamphlet explains how to prevent Hantavirus. The steps include airing out and sealing up buildings, trapping mice, and cleaning up droppings and nests. It also describes what the symptoms of Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome are. Controlling rodents in buildings is possible, and can protect public health.