Be careful out there.

[Shawn]

Colorado: 1st Case of Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome of 2004
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This year's first reported case of hantavirus infection in Colorado has
resulted in the death of a Douglas County woman, health authorities said on Fri 25 Jun 2004. John Pape, an epidemiologist specializing in
animal-related diseases at the Department of Public Health and Environment, said the woman lived in a more rural part of the county, and it's believed she contracted it there.

"This disease is carried by deer mice, which primarily stay in more rural
areas," he said. "They aren't as likely to act like the common house mouse, which will come indoors and live with you in the city." The deer mouse is brown on top with a white belly. House mice usually are gray.

Authorities said the Douglas County woman died last week, and they still
are trying to find out how she contracted the virus. Hantavirus pulmonary
syndrome is a respiratory disease caused by a virus carried mostly by deer mice that can infect humans when they inhale dirt or dust contaminated with mouse urine and feces. Usually it happens when people are cleaning rodent-infested structures such as barns, garages, storage sheds, trailers or cabins.

The virus was first diagnosed in the United States in 1959, but the
earliest case in Colorado was in 1985. In 1993, an outbreak of hantavirus
infection in the 4 Corners area infected 5 Coloradoans, killing 4. Since
then, [in Colorado] there have been 35 cases of people being infected with
16 deaths, Pape said. The Pan American Health Organization reported this
April that since 1993, there have been 362 cases in the United States,
including 132 deaths; and 1910 cases in North and South America, with 384 total deaths. During 2003 in Colorado there were 5 cases and one fatality.

Among the counties in Colorado that have tested positive for the disease
are Douglas, Jefferson, Boulder and Adams, Pape said.

If there is evidence of mice in or around your home, Pape said, remove them as soon as possible. If they are brown with a white belly, spray them with bleach, put them in a double plastic bag and place them in the outdoor trash can. He advised wearing protective gloves, making sure there is plenty of ventilation where you are working, and use face masks if possible.

[Byline: Gary Gerhardt]

[Throughout the Americas hantavirus pulmonary syndrome is caused be several distinct hantaviruses with different rodent reservoirs. In North America, from Alaska to Mexico, cases of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome are caused by infection with viruses belonging to the hantavirus species known as "Sin Nombre virus", whose reservoir host is the deer mouse "Peromyscus maniculatus". In the Old World other hantaviruses carried by different rodents are associated with a milder form of disease known as hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome, of which there can be up to 200 000 cases annually. Hantaviruses belong to the family _Bunyaviridae_, one of the most diverse of virus families, the majority of whose members have no association with human or animal disease. - Mod.CP]
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The bear went over the mountain to see what he could see.