A deer mouse, which public health officials determined to be one of the reservoirs and transmitters of hantavirus. (Courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
A deer mouse, which public health officials determined to be one of the reservoirs and transmitters of hantavirus. (Courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

A hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship that had been headed to the Canary Islands has brought renewed international attention to the virus after three of the ship’s passengers died after contracting the virus.

Hantavirus – a rare but potentially deadly virus most often carried by rodents – has historically been reported more often in Western states.

Since hantavirus surveillance in Colorado began in 1993, a spokesperson from Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment said La Plata County has had eight documented cases. That number includes a Durango woman who died in 1998 after contracting hantavirus, and an unidentified county resident who died from the virus in 2015.

Still, the risk to La Plata County residents remains extremely low, said La Plata County Public Health Director Theresa Anselmo, in an email to The Durango Herald.

The Andes strain, which infected cruise ship passengers, is the only known hantavirus strain capable of spreading person-to-person, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health, no person-to-person transmission of hantavirus has ever been documented in the United States.

The strain of hantavirus endemic to Southwest Colorado is not the one suspected to have proliferated on the cruise ship.

The Sin Nombre strain (formerly known as the Four Corners virus) is the one most common to North America.

Deer mice are the most common carriers of the strain endemic to the Southwest, according to the CDPHE. Other rodents native to the area can also carry the virus.

“All rodent exposures should be considered as potential hantavirus exposures since deer mice may be present in the same environments as house mice, even if they aren’t seen,” the CDPHE hantavirus manual says.

Infection most commonly occurs when people inhale virus particles from airborne dust or nesting materials contaminated with rodent urine or droppings, according to the CDPHE manual.

People face the highest risk when contaminated dust becomes airborne during cleaning, La Plata County Public Health specialist Audrey Gallegos wrote in a recent Durango Herald op-ed.

Spring and summer, when dust is more prevalent, historically see the highest rates of hantavirus infection in Colorado, according to CDPHE data ranging from 1993 to 2023. Infection rates typically peak in July, followed closely by May and June.

To clean safely, Gallegos recommends “wet cleaning,” by spraying droppings and nearby areas with disinfectant or bleach solutions, while wearing personal protective gear like gloves and an N95 mask.

More detailed information about proper cleaning precautions, as well as how to report a potential infection, can be found at https://bit.ly/4uOf5GN.

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