Subject: Re: Hantavirus (was Re. Contents of N. A. Bird Bander)
Date: Oct 4 10:28:26 1995
From: Don Baccus - donb at Rational.COM


>Is this potentially a problem for those of us who have frequent
>possibility of handling rodents who have died near / in the
>house and then handle them (briefly) to dispose of them?

>If so, is washing hands with ordinary soap and water sufficient
>protection?

Hantavirus is caught most typically by breathing in feces particles.
In the wet westside this isn't much of a problem as the humidity
works against the possibility of the feces drying and breaking up
to that extent. Not that it's an impossibility, but it isn't simply
coincidence that first confirmed Oreogn case occured in Hood River,
which is considerably drier than Portland or Seattle.

Also, I don't believe there's evidence that hantavirus has spread
to domestic mice, though I don't know if there's evidence that it
can't or won't.

- Don Baccus, Portland OR <donb at rational.com>