Fun times at Yosemite - Hantavirus outbreak
I had heard about the hantavirus outbreak but didn't realize that it was so widespread.
From
FOX News:
Yosemite extends hantavirus warning; death toll rises
Yosemite National Park doubled the scope of its hantavirus warning on Thursday to some 22,000 visitors who may have been exposed to the deadly mouse-borne disease as the number of confirmed cases grew to eight and a third death was reported.
U.S. officials recently sounded a worldwide alert, saying that up to 10,000 people were thought to be at risk of contracting hantavirus pulmonary syndrome after staying at the popular Curry Village lodging area between June and August.
As many as 2,500 of those individuals live outside the United States, U.S. health officials said.
Officials are concerned that more Yosemite visitors could develop the lung disease in the next month or so because the virus may incubate for up to six weeks after exposure.
The warning was expanded to roughly 12,000 additional visitors to the park's more remote High Sierra Camps, after an eighth case of the illness was confirmed in a man who had stayed in tent cabins at three of those camps.
The Centers for Disease Control has a good web page up on
Hantavirus
Washington State has had
46 cases! (link is to a US map with cases listed state by state)
Posted by DaveH at September 9, 2012 1:27 PM