
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 12, 1994                   TAG: 9401120075
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MIAMI                                LENGTH: Short

DEADLY VIRUS CONFIRMED EAST OF MISSISSIPPI

Medical investigators focused Tuesday on a rural drug treatment center where a man came down with the first case of the deadly hantavirus east of the Mississippi River.

After the rodent-borne virus was recognized last spring in the Southwest, disease experts feared it would spread across the country.

Kenneth Spence, 33, from North Miami, developed a flulike illness in October while living at the treatment center in the Redland area that was ravaged by Hurricane Andrew. He was hospitalized for 22 days with lungs that were so congested he was unable to breathe on his own. He eventually recovered.

Where did he encounter rodents? The treatment center "is the only place it could have happened," Spence told a local TV station. "That's the only place I was at and constantly saw rats."

by CNB