3. What is Hantavirus?
• Hantavirus is (according to: Microbiology with diseases
by Body System written by: Robert Bauman) a group
of bunyaviruses that are transmitted to humans by
inhalation of virions in dried deer-mouse excreta and
causes Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome.
4. What is Hantavirus? (Con’t)
Hantavirus Pulmonary syndrome or HPS: Is a
rapid, severe, and often fatal pneumonia
caused by infection with a Hantavirus.
6. Animals Known to Carry the Virus
• Deer mouse
• White footed mouse
• Rice rat
• Cotton rat
• Not all rats carry the virus, but to be safe
avoid all wild mice and rats.
7. The Carriers
Deer Mouse
White Footed Mouse
Rice Rat
Cotton Rat
http://www.cdc.gov/rodents/resources/images.h
tml http://www.cdc.gov/rodents/resources/images.html
http://www.cdc.gov/rodents/resources/images.html http://www.cdc.gov/rodents/resources/images.h
tml
8. How People get Infected
• By breathing in the virus, this happens when
the mouse/rat urine and droppings that
contain the virus are stirred in the air.
• People can also become infected directly by
touching the feces, urine, or nesting area
that are contaminated with the virus, and
get it on their hands and touching the
extremities of one’s own eyes, nose, and
mouth.
9. The Side Effects
• The infected fell sick 1 to 5 weeks according to the
CDC.
• The symptoms:
• Fever
• Severe muscle aches
• Fatigue
10. A Few Days Later
People have a hard time breathing.
The severity increases to:
• Headaches
• Dizziness
• Chills
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Diarrhea
• Stomach pain
12. Why it Has Gained National Attention
The Yosemite Hantavirus outbreak is unique compared to other cases.
This outbreak has killed in clusters instead of individual cases as usual.
http://www.businessinsider.com/yosemites-hantavirus-outbreak-kills-a-third-camper-2012-9
For an outbreak like Yosemite's, the conditions need to be "a perfect
storm" of a wet, warm spring followed by a hot, dry summer, Higa said.
The mild spring allows for an abundance in the deer mouse food
supply. This leads to increased breeding. The behavior of the mice
becomes more aggressive in competition for mates and manifests as
biting. From what researchers understand, deer mice spread hantavirus
among their populations by biting each other, Higa said. The rodent
hosts carry the virus the rest of their lives but are not made ill by it.
http://www.ydr.com/local/ci_21519711/hantavirus-concern-spreads-
even-locally
13. Recent Events
Hantavirus in Texas
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-57509723-10391704/hantavirus-found-in-texas-
hoarders-home-featured-on-tlc-show/
14. Texas Story (Con’t)
The original test was deemed a false positive.
After more tests were done Hantavirus was
ruled out.
“Health officials said disrupting the old, dusty
mounds of clutter inside the home could have
easily released the virus.”
What the women is still ill with is yet to be
Photo by: Isaac Kasamania/
AFP/GettyImages
determined.
http://mix965houston.cbslocal.com/2012/09/11/health-officials-wrongly-diagnose-woman-
with-hantavirus/
15. Additional Information
• “One theory is that tourists and all their food are
feeding a population boom of infected mice.”
• After 20 years in the U.S. there is still no cure.
• “(CBS News) YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. - There
has been an outbreak of hantavirus, a deadly disease
spread by rodents. More than 22,000 people who
visited Yosemite National Park since June have now
been warned they should get tested. There have been
eight confirmed cases and three people have died.”
• “One case of hantavirus is rare; eight cases in one
location is unprecedented.”
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57510794/yosemite-park-reacts-to-hantavirus-cases/
16. What Researchers Are Doing
“Researchers found the source. Knowing rodents carried
hantavirus, they trapped hundreds of small mammals and
found the virus in nearly one-third of the deer
mice, according to the CDC. Before year's end, scientists
isolated the specific type of hantavirus that caused the Four
Corners cases and grew it in a laboratory.”
The CDC took tissue samples from the survivors of the virus
and the those who died, scientists then tested for antibodies
against viruses. Which in the end they found a match.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-hantavirus-mystery-20120911,0,2952749.story
17. Works Cited
Allposters.com
Bauman, Robert Microbiology with Disease by bodies system 3rd edition.
http://www.businessinsider.com/yosemites-hantavirus-outbreak-kills-a-third-camper-2012-9
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57510794/yosemite-park-reacts-to-hantavirus-cases/
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-57509723-10391704/hantavirus-found-in-texas-hoarders-home-
featured-on-tlc-show/
http://www.cdc.gov/rodents/resources/images.html
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-hantavirus-mystery-20120911,0,2952749.story
http://mix965houston.cbslocal.com/2012/09/11/health-officials-wrongly-diagnose-woman-with-
hantavirus/
Phsource.us
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUimXBxOn90&feature=youtu.be
