OK..this is what I already know from past learnings/readings....
Hantavirus is found in mice scat (dried mouse poop) out in the wild.
If you enter a wilderness cabin that you plan to stay in and you see mice scat, this is what you do.
Get...plastic bags, wear rubber/latex/plastic gloves
... some kind of disinfectant spray (even water or windex...anything to spray on the scat so dust doesn't form as you try to remove it. (DO NOT SWEEP DRY MICE SCAT!)
...wet bandana or other really good filter to put over your mouth and nose so you do not breathe in the particles.
...Spry the scat and then scoop it into the plastic bags (use dustpan or something made out of newspapers, etc....double even triple the bags, tie them off and dispose.
Now...I will go do some research and see how much I got right or wrong and to get more very important safety knowledge.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here is one report:..full credit goes to:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/08/yosemite-cabins-cleaned-inspected-after-second-hantavirus-death.html
Yosemite cabins cleaned, inspected after second hantavirus death
Yosemite officials are cleaning and inspecting cabins in the park's Curry Village, where four recent visitors were believed to have contracted hantavirus, a rare rodent-borne disease that has killed about one-third of those exposed nationwide since health experts first identified it in 1993.
Park officials announced Monday that a second visitor had died of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. All four visitors affected had stayed in Curry Village in June, the National Park Service said in a statement.
Now, officials have reached out to anyone who stayed in the Village's "signature tent cabins" from mid-June through August, warning them about the cases, the Park Service said.
Emails were sent to about 1,700 people Monday evening; letters were to be mailed to additional visitors who stayed in the area but did not have a recorded email address.
Emails were sent to about 1,700 people Monday evening; letters were to be mailed to additional visitors who stayed in the area but did not have a recorded email address.
Dan Jensen, president of Delaware North Cos. — Yosemite's contracted concessionaire — described hantavirus pulmonary syndrome as a "rare but serious disease" in the email and urged those showing symptoms to "seek healthcare immediately."
Symptoms of the disease — which begin one to six weeks after exposure — are flu-like and include fatigue, fever, muscle aches, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain, according to the Center for Disease Control and prevention. The disease can progress rapidly into breathing problems.
Of the 587 cases of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome reported in the United States between 1993 and 2011, about one-third were fatal, according to CDC statistics.
"There is no cure for hantavirus, so early medical attention is critical," said Scott Gediman, a Yosemite spokesman.
Gediman said crews began trapping and testing the deer mice believed to be carrying the disease after the first two cases of hantavirus were reported and are continuing to do so. They are also "deep cleaning" and repairing the canvas-and-wood cabins in Curry Village to fix any holes where mice might be able to enter, Gediman said.
Two other exposures have been reported in the park's history, in 2000 and 2010, both in the Tuolumne Meadows, Gediman said. Neither of those cases was fatal.
Yosemite has set up a non-emergency phone line at for questions regarding the disease, which will be staffed daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
No comments:
Post a Comment