A rodent disease that can be spread to humans and has no cure has killed several people in the US and prompted a health warning.
Cases of hantavirus, which is spread from rodents to people through viral droplets from handling materials with the animals’ urine, saliva or feces, are on the rise, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services.
From the beginning of January to the start of July this year, seven cases of Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome have been confirmed in Arizona. Three of them resulted in death.
The syndrome ‘is a severe and sometimes fatal respiratory illness caused by the infection with hantavirus’, stated the agency in a July 12 advisory.
In addition, there have been two hantavirus cases in California and one death.
Symptoms include fever, headache, and muscle aches quickly making it hard to breathe.
Hantavirus has been found mostly in deer mouse in the Grand Canyon state and is not spread on human-to-human contact. But it is not confined to a specific region.
‘It can be present in many areas in the southwestern region of the United States where there is rodent activity, even if mice are never seen,’ the advisory states.
Before the recent hantavirus cases, the last one in Coconino County was reported in 2016.
The syndrome was detected in 1993 after infecting a Navajo tribe residing at the border of Arizona and New Mexico. About 80% of the population died at the time.
Public health officials recommend residents who have experienced rodent activity to follow certain clean-up procedures.
They include spraying rodent droppings and nests with disinfectants like bleach, sealing and discarding them in the trash, and avoiding dusting up infested areas.
Residents are also advised to stop rodents from entering their homes by sealing holes larger than a quarter-inch in diameter with wire screen or cement, and to use traps for mice found inside.
‘The best way to prevent infection with this illness is by carefully disinfecting and cleaning up any waste products from the rodents and by not coming into contact with them,’ Dr Aaron Glatt, Mount Sinai South Nassau Hospital’s chief of infectious diseases, told NBC News.
Arizona’s hantavirus warning comes more than six months after a new case of the ‘zombie deer disease’ at Yellowstone National park sparked concerns that the fatal illness could spread among humans.
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