Arizona public health officials warn that hantavirus, a virus transmitted from rodents to humans, is causing an increase in a potentially fatal pulmonary syndrome. There have been seven confirmed cases and three deaths in the past six months, according to a recent health alert.
Most hantavirus cases are reported in the western and southwestern United States. Most states, including California, typically report one to four cases per year. Two people in California have been infected with hantavirus this year.
There is no specific treatment or vaccine to protect against the infection.
Arizona has one of the highest total numbers of reported infections of hantavirus in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
From 2016 to 2022, there was 11 cases of hantavirus in Arizona – four in 2016, two in 2017, four in 2020 and one in 2022, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services.
“Hantavirus is a rare but important cause of serious and even fatal respiratory infection,” said Dr. Aaron Glatt, chief of infectious diseases at Mount Sinai South Nassau Hospital on Long Island, New York.
“It is transmitted by several rodents, especially the deer mouse, and can cause mild illness but causes fatal illness in a significant percentage of people who contract this disease,” he said.
Furthermore, San Diego County is reporting increased activity in hantavirus-infected rodents this year, with 17 cases of hantavirus-infected Western mice. Overall, hantavirus activity can fluctuate from year to year and does not appear to be more than usual in the U.S. this year, the California Department of Public Health said.
Why are Arizona cases rising?
The CDC reported 850 cases from 1993 to 2021or about 30 cases per year.
Trish Lees, public information officer for Coconino County Health and Human Services, said the increase in cases in Arizona may be due to changes in rodent populations, which can vary seasonally and annually.
Although cases can happen at any time, they occur more in the summer due to increased rodent activity and people coming into contact with rodents more often because they are outside more and enter enclosed spaces such as sheds or barns. Lees said.
“Climate can influence the occurrence of hantavirus in complicated ways – for example, heavy spring rains can increase food resources for deer mice, resulting in an increase in the rodent population – but no connection between extreme heat and the increased hantavirus activity,” the California report said. the public health department said.
Experts speculate that climate change, such as the extreme heat waves sweeping the country, may be partly to blame.
Dr. Camilo Mora, a professor in the geography and environment department at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, says people aren’t the only ones who seek shelter when it gets too humid or hot outside. Other species also seek respite from the harsh climate – specifically pathogen-carrying mammals.
Your previous to look for found that more than half of the infectious diseases that affect humans can be worsened by climate change.
“Many disease-carrying species accompany climate change – so while for any specific case it is difficult to conclude the role of climate change, climate change has all the attributes to cause vector-borne disease outbreaks,” he said.
Scott Roberts, associate medical director of infection prevention at Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, added that fluctuating environmental conditions can lead to changes in animal populations – so the increase in the rodent population where hantavirus circulates will inevitably increase. the risk of human exposure.
Hot weather may also have worsened the disease after people became infected due to dehydration or other factors, Glatt said.
Approximately 94% of hantavirus infections occur west of the Mississippi River, according to the CDC.
Hantavirus symptoms
Particles containing hantavirus enter the air when the urine, saliva or poop of deer mice are stirred, causing Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS).
The syndrome was first recognized in 1993 after a mysterious illness infected members of a Navajo tribe living on the border of New Mexico and Arizona, according to an earlier study. report. Approximately 80% of those infected died at the time.
Symptoms may appear one to eight weeks after exposure to an infected rodent.
The disease is divided into two phases.
In the early stages of the disease, people may abruptly begin to complain of nonspecific symptoms:
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Fever.
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Fatigue.
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Muscle pain – especially in the thighs, back and shoulders.
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Nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain.
If left untreated, the disease can become more serious, infecting the lungs, where it causes fluid to “leak” through the blood vessels, leading to fluid filling in the respiratory tract and causing shortness of breath, chest tightness and coughing. , according to American Lung Association.
Approximately 38% of people who develop lung symptoms may die from the disease.
How to prevent hantavirus
“The best way to prevent infection with this disease is to carefully disinfect and clean any rodent waste and not come into contact with them,” Glatt said.
O Wyoming Department of Health warns to be careful during spring cleaning. The department has not seen any unusual activity so far this year among its state residents, a public information officer confirmed.
The risk may increase when opening or cleaning cabins, sheds, barns or storage buildings in rural areas that have been closed for the winter and where deer mice have entered, experts say.
In 2012, at least 10 people fell ill and three died during a hantavirus outbreak among visitors who stayed overnight in tents in Yosemite National Park.
When entering a closed, unoccupied space for a long time, be careful to air out the space for 30 minutes, warns the Wyoming Department of Health.
If the space is very dirty or full of mice, take extra care by wearing gloves, shoe covers, coveralls, and N95 masks before cleaning.
This article was originally published in NBCNews. with
