Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 25, 1993 TAG: 9306250135
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ATLANTA LENGTH: Medium
The CDC is investigating 34 cases, including 19 deaths, of severe respiratory illness believed caused by a never-before-seen strain of hantavirus, the agency said.
That's one more death than previously reported. The CDC couldn't provide details, but the latest addition appeared to be a Navajo Indian in his 60s from Utah who died in April.
The CDC has found antibodies to the new strain of hantavirus in 13 of the patients, including nine of the dead.
The illness is believed spread by very close contact with rodents or airborne particles of rodent droppings.
Chief suspect is the deer mouse. The CDC found hantavirus antibodies in 32 of the 107 deer mice tested so far, or 30 percent. That's a large increase from 1985, when a routine test of 218 Southwestern deer mice found only 11 - or 5 percent - carried antibodies to the virus.
Carrying antibodies means the animal has been exposed to the virus, not necessarily that it is the carrier. But because so many deer mice carry antibodies, they are the CDC's prime suspect.
Hantaviruses are common in Asia, where they cause severe kidney disease. But this new strain is different because it attacks the lungs.
The CDC found a direct genetic link between the hantavirus antibodies in three patients and six deer mice.
The CDC doesn't know how many deer mice in the wild are infected. They live in every region of the United States except the Southeast, but the CDC hasn't decided whether to test for hantavirus in rodents elsewhere in the country.
by CNB