{"id":12280,"date":"2026-03-13T09:46:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T15:46:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/new-mexico-health-officials-confirm-states-first-hantavirus-case-of-the-year-in-santa-fe\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:32:42","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:32:42","slug":"new-mexico-health-officials-confirm-states-first-hantavirus-case-of-the-year-in-santa-fe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/new-mexico-health-officials-confirm-states-first-hantavirus-case-of-the-year-in-santa-fe\/","title":{"rendered":"New Mexico health officials confirm state\u2019s first hantavirus case of the year in Santa Fe"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A
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)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

New Mexico health officials announced on Thursday that a Santa Fe County resident had been hospitalized but ultimately recovered from hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, marking the first case recorded in 2026.<\/p>\n

The resident, a man in his 60s, is now recovering at home, David Morgan, a public information officer with New Mexico Department of Health, told Source NM in a phone call.<\/p>\n

New Mexico leads the nation in reports of hantavirus, the severe respiratory disease caused by the Sin Nombre virus, spread through contact with infected rodent droppings, urine and saliva. While many kinds of rodents can spread the disease, the most likely carriers in New Mexico are deer mice, according to the health department.<\/p>\n

New Mexico has reported 142 cases resulting in 55 deaths between 1975 and 2025, according to the state\u2019s health department<\/a>. The disease was the cause of the high-profile death<\/a> of Betsy Arakawa, the classical pianist married to actor Gene Hackman, who were both found dead in their Santa Fe home last year.<\/p>\n

Flu-like symptoms of the hantavirus pulmonary syndrome typically develop within one to six weeks from exposure, and can progress into a severe illness, according to a news release Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is important to air out cabins, sheds, garages and other spaces before any spring cleaning,\u201d NMDOH Public Health Veterinarian Dr. Erin Phipps said in a statement Thursday. \u201cWhile hantavirus cases remain rare, they can be fatal, so we urge New Mexicans to take preventative measures when cleaning areas where rodents may be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reducing risk<\/div>\n

The New Mexico health department issued additional guidelines to reduce the risk of contracting hantavirus:<\/p>\n

soak nests and droppings with a disinfectant such as a 10% bleach solution before wiping them up with paper towels and be sure to use gloves;don\u2019t sweep up rodent droppings because that can spread virus particles into the air where they can be inhaled;put hay, wood, and compost piles as far as possible from your home and dispose of trash and junk piles;trap mice and seal up homes to prevent rodents from entering.<\/div>\n

Source NM is an independent, nonprofit news organization that shines a light on governments, policies and public officials.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

leads the nation in reports of hantavirus<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12281,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,61,138,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-12280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-health","tag-new-mexico","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12280"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12280\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18611,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12280\/revisions\/18611"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12280"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=12280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}