Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome[edit]
Deer mouse
Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) is found in North, Central and South America.
[6] It is an often fatal pulmonary disease. In the United States, the causative agent is the
Sin Nombre virus carried by
deer mice. Prodromal symptoms include flu-like symptoms such as fever, cough,
muscle pain, headache, and lethargy. It is characterized by a sudden onset of shortness of breath with rapidly evolving pulmonary
edema that is often fatal despite intervention with mechanical ventilation and potent diuretics. The fatality rate is 36%.
[7]
Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome was first recognized during the 1993 outbreak in the
Four Corners region of the southwestern United States. It was identified by Dr. Bruce Tempest. It was originally called "Four Corners disease," but the name was changed to "Sin Nombre virus" after complaints by Native Americans that the name "Four Corners" stigmatized the region.
[8] It has since been identified throughout the United States. Rodent control in and around the home remains the primary prevention strategy.
North America[edit]
In the U.S., minor cases of HPS include
Sin Nombre virus,
New York virus,
Bayou virus, and possibly
Black Creek Canal virus.
As of January 2017, 728 cases of hantavirus had been reported in the U.S. cumulatively since 1995, across 36 states (not including cases with presumed exposure outside the U.S.). More than 96% of cases have occurred in states west of the
Mississippi River. The top 10 states by number of cases
reported (which differs slightly from a count ordered by the state of original
exposure) were
New Mexico (109),
Colorado (104),
Arizona (78),
California (61),
Washington (50),
Texas (45),
Montana (43),
Utah (38),
Idaho (21), and
Oregon (21); 36% of the total reported cases have resulted in death.
[45]
In Mexico the following rodents have been found to carry hantaviruses:
Megadontomys thomasi,
Neotoma picta,
Peromyscus beatae,
Reithrodontomys megalotis and
Reithrodontomys sumichrasti.
[46]
Canada[edit]
Although there are Sin Nombre virus-infected deer mice, the primary cause of the disease all across Canada, by June 2015, there had been only one documented case of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome in eastern Canada, with most cases in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba in the west.
There were a total of 109 confirmed cases; about 30% of those infected died.
[2] In Canada "[a]ll cases occurred in rural settings and approximately 70% of the cases have been associated with domestic and farming activities."
[2]
The first confirmed death was in Northern British Columbia in January, 2013 and another in Kindersley, Saskatchewan, in June 2013.
[47]
