Coconino County Health Department (CCHD) and the Arizona Department of Health Services announced today that hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) has been confirmed in an out-of-state visitor to Coconino County. The individual was hospitalized in another state on June 11 and died on June 12. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed that the individual was infected with hantavirus. The victim, in her early 50’s, was infected and died following a family boating trip on the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon from mid- to late-May. The exact source of the exposure is unknown and is still under investigation.
This is the first case of HPS with probable exposure in Coconino County since a nonfatal case in 2007. There have been no hantavirus cases reported so far in Arizona this year. Last year, Arizona had one case of hantavirus. Two cases of HPS have occurred this year in northern New Mexico.
CCHD officials are recommending that the public follow simple precautions when cleaning garages, campers, cabins, barns and other buildings where rodents may have been present. These precautions can help offer protection from HPS, a rare, but often fatal disease spread by rodents.
HPS is caused by a virus that individuals get through contact with the urine, droppings and saliva of wild mice, primarily deer mice. Breathing small particles of mouse urine or droppings that have been stirred up into the air is the most common means of infection. The illness starts with fever, headache and muscle ache, and progresses rapidly to severe difficulty in breathing and, in some cases, death.
