Jon Anderson relates -

>>Hantavirus: Warning to Bird Banders. C. Stuart Houston. Pp 63-64. Dr
>>Houston points out that banders working around prey remains of raptor
>>nests, etc can come into contact with deer mice (Peromyscus spp) and
>>other rodent remains, and thus expose themselves to this deadly virus.

then Don Baccus says -

>Mountain from molehill??? While a worthwhile note, just how many folks
>die from hantavirus? How about an article suggesting (indeed, insisting)
>upon banders wearing seatbelts and shoulder belts enroute to their
>banding site?

I believe there have been at least two fatalities in BC over the past
three years from hantavirus. A biologist in Williams Lake in 1993
almost succumbed but was saved by a heads-up at the local hospital.
She had contracted the virus from rodent trap boxes which were being
stored at her residence. The threat is real and should not be taken
lightly, at least in the hot and dusty interior sites.

-Jack


Jack Bowling
Prince George, BC
CANADA
jcbowling at mindlink.bc.ca