Prevention Is Key To Avoiding Hantavirus Infection (8/10/2007)

Hantavirus is carried by the feces, saliva and urine of deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus)

Following the recent death of a University of Colorado at Boulder student, public health experts in Boulder are encouraging students, faculty and staff to learn more about hantavirus, a serious respiratory disease.

CU-Boulder aerospace engineering student Jason Dinges, 20, died from hantavirus complications on July 15. He was spending the summer at his parents' Park County, Colo., home at the time of his death.

Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, or HPS, is carried in dust particles contaminated by the feces, saliva and urine of deer mice. People can get the disease if they breathe in contaminated dust from rodent-infested areas. Deer mice, which have brown fur with white feet and underbellies, prefer the rural outdoors but also nest in homes, barns and other structures.

Health experts encourage anyone cleaning out cabins and other structures to look for evidence of rodent infestation before starting projects. Because there is no vaccine or effective treatment for severe hantavirus, prevention is key to avoiding the disease, said Sandra Sonoda, a registered nurse at Wardenburg Health Center, CU-Boulder's student health-care clinic.

"We encourage all of our students - especially those spending their summer breaks in rural areas - and the general public to learn as much as they can about hantavirus and what they can do to prevent it," she said.

According to state health officials, most of Colorado's cases occur in May, June and July. Statewide, there have been six hantavirus cases this year - four of them fatal. That compares with six cases and two deaths in 2006 and 11 cases and one death in 2005. Since the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment began tracking hantavirus in 1993, there have been 61 documented cases and 23 fatalities.

This year's hantavirus cases have occurred in Alamosa, Costilla, Custer, Park and Weld counties, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

Early hantavirus symptoms, which can develop between five days and three weeks after infection, include fever, fatigue, aching muscles and other flu-like characteristics. Muscle aches typically occur in the back, shoulders and thighs. Headaches, dizziness, chills, vomiting, nausea and diarrhea also are among the early warning signs. As the disease progresses it can lead to coughing, shortness of breath and pulmonary edema, when the lungs fill with fluid. Eventually, patients will not be able to breathe without assistance.

"Given the rapid onset of shock and respiratory failure, the probability of surviving increases with early recognition, hospitalization and aggressive supportive care," said Heath Harmon, a Boulder County Public Health epidemiologist.

Harmon stressed that medical experts do not associate common flu symptoms of runny nose, sneezing, sinus problems or productive cough with hantavirus. He offered the following tips for rodent-proofing homes and other structures:

Before cleaning out rodent-infested areas, open all doors and windows to provide good ventilation for 30 minutes to 60 minutes. Spray mouse droppings with a mixture of one cup of bleach per gallon of water to avoid stirring up dust. Wear a mask and do not vacuum mouse droppings. The virus is smaller than the pores in most vacuum cleaner bags and is not stopped by HEPA filters.

Thoroughly soak down contaminated areas with the bleach mixture. Use rubber gloves to pick up soaked waste, including dead mice, and put the waste in a double plastic bag. Bury or dispose of the waste in an outdoor garbage can or landfill.

Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by the University of Colorado at Boulder

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