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Ben Margot / AP
At least five hantavirus infections have been linked to the tent cabins in Yosemite's Curry Village.
About 10,000 people who stayed in tent cabins at Yosemite National Park over the summer may be at risk for hantavirus, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday in a health advisory.
"People who stayed in the tents between June 10 and Aug. 24 may be at risk of developing (hantavirus) in the next six weeks," the CDC said in the release.
Earlier, two more Yosemite National Park visitors were found with a mouse-borne virus blamed for the deaths of two people, bringing the total number of infections to six, state health officials said.
The new discoveries were made during the agency's investigation into cases of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome at the famed park, California Department of Public Health Anita Gore spokeswoman said.
The infections spurred park officials to close 91 tent cabins at Curry Village in Yosemite Valley, where five of the six infections occurred. Gore said one of the infected people may have been in another area of the park.
"Our investigation is trying to determine which area of the park that person visited," she said.
Over the past three weeks, two people have died of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome after staying in cabins at Curry Village in Yosemite Valley.
Park officials said the double-walled design of the cabins that were closed Tuesday made it easy for mice to nest between the walls. The disease is carried in the feces, urine and saliva of deer mice and other rodents.
The illness begins as flu-like symptoms, including including headache, fever, muscle ache, shortness of breath and cough. Initial symptoms may appear up to six weeks after exposure and can lead to severe breathing difficulties and death.
Although there is no cure for hantavirus, treatment after early detection through blood tests can save lives. The virus, which has never been known to be transmitted between humans, kills 38 percent of those it infects.
"The earlier it's caught and supportive care is given, the better the survival rate," said Dr. Vicki Kramer, chief of vector-borne diseases at the state Public Health Department.
Dr. Charles Chiu, an infectious disease specialist at the University of California, San Francisco, said he made a habit of airing out his tent-cabin before occupying it as a precaution against possible virus-carrying dust particles when he stayed in Curry Village a few years ago.
But even Chiu said he was surprised to learn that a hantavirus had killed two people and stricken others who slept in the same structures this summer.
"It wasn't something even I had thought of at the time," Chiu, who studies hantavirus, told Reuters.
Five of the people who fell ill are known to have stayed in the tent cabins in June or July, and warnings have gone out to visitors who stayed in Curry Village in June, July or August.
The hantavirus outbreak occurred despite efforts by park officials to step up protection efforts last April. A 2010 report from the state health department warned park officials that rodent inspection efforts should be increased after a visitor to the Tuolumne Meadows area of the park fell ill.
The new hantavirus policy, enacted April 25, was designed to provide a safe place, "free from recognized hazards that may cause serious physical harm or death."
It came after the state report revealed that 18 percent of mice trapped for testing at various locations around the park were positive for hantavirus.
"Inspections for rodent infestations and appropriate exclusion efforts, particularly for buildings where people sleep, should be enhanced," it said.
Melanie Norall of Palo Alto, California, is monitoring her 8-year-old daughter's every sniffle. They stayed in a cabin outside Yosemite's north entrance at the end of July and awoke to mice scurrying and eating nuts out of their luggage.
In 2009, the park installed the 91 new, higher-end cabins to replace some that had been closed or damaged after parts of Curry Village, which sits below the 3,000-foot Glacier Point promontory, were determined to be in a rock-fall hazard zone.
The new cabins have canvas exteriors and drywall or plywood inside, with insulation in between. Park officials found this week when they tried to shore up some of the cabins that mice had built nests in the walls.
The deer mice most prone to carrying the virus can squeeze through holes just one-quarter-inch in diameter. They are distinguished from solid-colored house mice by their white bellies and gray and brown bodies.
The park sent warning emails and letters Wednesday to another 1,000 people who stayed in tent cabins, after officials found that a computer glitch had stopped the notices from going out with the original 1,700 warnings Monday. The warning says anyone with flu-like symptoms or respiratory problems should seek immediate medical attention.
In 2011, half of the 24 U.S. hantavirus cases ended in death. But since 1993, when the virus first was identified, the average death rate is 36.39 percent, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
The vast majority of hantavirus victims are young and middle-age adults, Chiu said, probably because they are mostly likely to engage in activities that would readily expose them, such as chopping and carrying fire wood or sweeping the floors.
"The message should not be you should stop camping. The important thing is general awareness of this disease and to avoid wild rodents in general," Chiu said.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report
More hantavirus news:
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I feel bad for those that got infected with hantavirus, they were only trying to enjoy a summer vacation and end up with this health threat. What about campgrounds in other areas? Has that been looked at as well?
Truthfully there isn't much that can be done. Rodents in the wild are very difficult to exterminate. Lets not forget where this is occurring. There's no 'safe' method to deal with it whilst preserving other wildlife.
I feel for those effected. This virus has no prevention or post exposure cure/treatment. You're given oxygen and fluids to support you. The rest is up to your immune system. This virus makes you sicker than you've ever been, then you get even more sick once renal failure starts. Of course you also have to deal with the hemorrhagic nature of this virus (not all patients deal with this but many do). Just as a note: this virus has an incubation period of only around 2 weeks on average. 1 week incubation periods have been observed often. Sometimes it can extend to 4 weeks rarely, but 6? That's a far stretch.
Maybe your info is about the old world form of the virus? According to the CDC, the Sin Nombre hantavirus is the type that is found in the US. What you have to worry about with Sin Nombre is hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS). It's the Old World virus, primarily found in Asia, that causes the hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS). Because there have been relatively few known cases (less than 600 since Sin Nombre was identified in 1993), they can't be positive about the incubation period but they do know it can be as much as 5 weeks. That's why they are telling people to be mindful of symptoms up to 6 weeks post potential exposure.
I hope the latest cases are the end of this and that everyone currently ill recovers safely. But if you've been exposed and feel as though you're coing down with a cold or the flu, please get it checked out! Maybe it's just your allergies acting up, but better to be safe than sorry.
It's not just campgrounds or in the wild where this virus can be found. If mice get into your house in winter, that can also be problematic since you don't know if those mice are carrying the virus. See the CDC website (CDC.gov) for the types of rodents that can carry the virus and how to deal safely with cleaning up an area where mice have been.
We camped at Bass Lake about 1000ft below Yosemite and at Pinecrest Lake, about an hour north of Yosemite at the same elevation. Nothing was reported there and neither of those places have the Curry Village complete lack of privacy Tent's on Stilts setup. Serious, I've talked to two people who stayed in those a couple of years ago and said they could hear EVERYTHING in either stilt tent beside them. Snoring kept them up on one side and arguments on the other. Since Yosemite is trying to shut down the real campgrounds in favor of these EXPENSIVE alternatives, they are back to the drawing board where they should be since we are only one flood away from those shacks being the only choice besides the Awahnee Hotel $$$$. I'm guessing they are getting cancellations as we comment, I wouldn't take the chance with my family and friends.
Burn all the tents.
.
And where's Barry? A crisis waiting to explode & he's off playing gold again.........
We stayed 5 miles outside of Yosemite at the Evergreen Resort, it was perfect and not packed like the Yosemite accommodations. I hope the sick recover and the dead RIP.
Steve, You, Mitt, Paul and the other liers WILL all end up in your own hell that You built, enjoy
I wouldn't sleep in one of those tents if you paid me. I would bring my own damn tent and stay in it.
The places where rodents have been is also dangerous. There are reports of Navajos who contracted the illness and died, they had slept in old ruins, cabins and also caves. If you see dust, small tracks and rodent droppings, get out. Don't breathe the dust, don't sweep or stir the dust in any way, if you have a mask or bandana, wrap that around your mouth and nose and don't trap, feed, touch or eat small rodents. Cipmunks, squirrels, mice etc. Wash your hands, your face and your clothes if you feel you have come in contact with contagious material.
It is becoming more prevalent, especially in the Southwest and to add more cheer to the narrative, there are also cases of bubonic plague in the region, another rodent borne illness, this time it is the fleas that are the vector.
Liz, and American, thanks for the facts and obvious research.
Wow, scary donuts..I was just there last week backpacking with some friends...Now every sneeze, every itch, every ache, and pain is going to freak me out...
Hope the CDC is just playing it safe, and that no more people are infected...
First off let me say, I can't stand either sociopath running for office. Both are habitual liars and warmongers. Obama didn't end the Iraq War, Wikileaks did. If not for them he'd have us in there still. But Mittens is no better.
That said...did you just say "crisis"? Did you just imply the federal government even needs to worry itself with this tiny threat to human life? What kind of "conservative" are you?
The statist hypocrite kind.
"Crisis" he says....6 dead and maybe 10,000 infected in a nation 315 million people is NOT a crisis. It's not even a worry. Heck, it really must be a slow news day for this to even make the news!
33,000 Americans die every year from the normal influenza virus.
4,000 die in home fires.
300 die in bathtubs (and of terrorism over the last 11 years).
And you're fretting about 6 dead? Even if this thing had a 100% fatality rate, we're looking at 10,000 fatalities...30% of the flu's death rate a year!
I don't know what's more out of whack....your fear of such a low threat to life in this country, or your thinking the govt needs to save you from it while simultaneously thinking you're for small govt.
BTW...just so I anger the left too...less than 10,000 gun murders occur a year in the USA. It's also not major threat to life overall. And it's declining, year after year, even as population, total guns in circulation, and permits to carry rise year after year. That means percentagely, and per capita, it gets to be less and less of a threat every year despite the rise in guns out there and those carrying them. Kind of throws a wrench in your irrational fear of them, doesn't it.
I swear...libertarians are the only logical and rational people out there these days. Both sides may be logical and rational hear and there, but nowhere near as consistently as libertarians. We simply fear things by the actual chance they might kill us, not the irrational way in which we might die. This is why libertarians fear bathtubs and terrorism equally...because statistically they are equal threats to kill us.
You can back to your CDC hyped fears, TSA apologetics, and gun-hating now. War is Peace, Slavery is Freedom, Ignorance is Strength, Interventions are Humanitarian, and Pepper Spray is a Vegetable, right guys?
Libertarians are fantasizing fools. Their political philosophy was perfect for a rural, agrarian society of the mid-nineteenth century in a country with a population of about 30,000,000 people. But it is now the 21st century and this nation, with 300,000,000 people is way beyond even the possibility of a truly libertarian society. Return to the gold standard? NO government regulations over anything? The end of the Fed? Libertarians need either a time machine or a padded cell.
"On the second anniversary of the end of U.S. combat operations in Iraq, President Barack Obama returned to the same Army base he visited in 2010 to announce the mission’s end."
This was a CAMPAIGN STOP..........and Barry CHARGED it to YOUR bank account.....
"But while the visit was billed as an “official” White House event, meaning the president wasn’t technically in campaign mode, it was hard not to hear campaign themes and fighting words in the president’s speech."
http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/31/13595875-obama-back-at-fort-bliss-vows-to-help-troops-fully-participate-in-our-economy?lite
There are virus's all over the world that can maybe kill you. But it would suck to be the one who got sick. Maybe they should catch a mouse with it and come up with some anti virus? You know just in case it is someone one of us knows. Or before it could get that bad. Oh wait not enough money in it.
And man I cant wait for this election to end. Maybe then we can keep the political stuff out of every conversation for a bit. Well hopefully not to many die and not to many even get sick.
Another place one can actually run into some of these virus's brought on by Mice and rodents. Is when you have anything stored for awhile. Some storage facilities like a shed or actual Storage unit can get mice and rats inside. Under long parked cars as well. They also nest in engine bays and wherever they can. Even eating the wires. Like stated before wear a mask and wash whatever comes into contact with any dust very well. Or just toss it.
As an old song,maybe 60's or 70's says, "Mother nature is taking over" Man is just a thing in this world and Bitching about everything that nature is dealing. Get over it and learn to except. Life is not a given.
American American, we stayed in Curry Village in 2000. There were five of us, and we were in the older style camping unit that must have been replaced by these new tents. You can indeed hear everything from the tents around you, including the snores. My kids were freaked out by the "bear box", the big metal bin outside the unit where you were required to remove all food from your vehicle overnight and place it in the bin. I didn't see those in recent photos of Curry Village, maybe no need for those anymore? There were NO bears anywhere that we could tell, just lots of noisy people. I'm glad we stayed there once, there is a world-class scenic waterfall only steps away. Once was enough.
No one has mentioned how this virus has been kept in check with few people coming in direct contact with the mice.
What is Nature's way to balance this ~ snakes. As more and more people want to live in the desert, the natural predators of these disease carrying rodents are being killed or displaced by humans.
Mt. Polamar found a squirrel in their control vectors carrying the old-fashioned bubonic plague in the fleas taken off the squirrel.
Anthrax killings of mammals linked to having to feed that much closer to the ground, stirring up anthrax spores that live for centuries in the soil.
Welcome to the new reality of over-population of humans. Mix in some climate change and like magic people will die from hantavirus, plague and now stirring up the ground soil, releasing anthrax spores.
This is not just an American issue. Canada, Africa, Russia. The only silver lining in this cloud is that once the disease finds a new host in a human, it is usually not transmittable from human to human.
Sounds like the design encouraged the mice to live comfortably in the wall.
Yah cause in CHINA we don worry so much bout them mouses caus they don eat too much.
ATTTTZZ where these tentzzzzz came frum/made/etc/etc., I BET-CHAAAAAAAAAAAA.
Yosemite's attempt to remove all family camp sites and replace them with these expensive and completely Privacy Free tents on stilts is doomed. A thinly disguised attempt to monitor every human being in the park. Yosemite was once a great place to go, now they are making so much money it's like Disneyland with all the noise and crowds and security. They don't count cars going in and coming out so it's one big parking lot once you get anywhere near the Awahnee or Curry Village, it's ridiculous. If you do camp in Upper River, the only place to camp outside of Curry Village, you've got to deal with ARMED rangers who behave like it's there own personal playground. They yell at the kids, tell them they can't do something and then turn around and do it themselves and there are sooooo many of them, you can tell the Yosemite is raking in the big bucks to pay ex-cops to do 'ranger' work.
We camped there for 30 years, I only go in the Fall or early spring now as we like to enjoy some peace and quiet and solitude, we don't do Disneyland and don't appreciate HLS treatment in the wilderness.
AA- are we going in the same National Park? I have yet to encounter a Yosemite Ranger who even slightly resembles a law enforcement officer. No macho attitudes. I'm no organic tree hugger but I love YNP, and have not read one word about plans to remove all of the family camping grounds. That would cause a riot! There are plans to limit cars & tour buses in the near future. And for safety reasons you now must have a lotto generated "ticket" to climb Half Dome.
Living 2.5hrs from Yosemite Village I have gone my entire life, camping with my Dad, Mom, & brother, backpacking & hiking with college buddies in the 80's, and then bringing my family the past 15yrs- first camping, now staying at the no-frills Yosemite Lodge (basically a Motel 6).
My only complaint are the idiot (American & foreign) tourists who walk 2-3 abreast on the bike trails
But why? since they knew where this was coming from did it take them this long to exam those tents to determine it was the walls and why didn't they shut those tents down when they first realized it was there that this virus started?
Curry Village's interpretation of customer service is emptying trash and replacing used towel. There is no cleaning of floors what-so-ever. They provide the tent cabins with Bear Proof storage lockers and that's it. Had flooring been mopped down with disinfectant daily to pick up any excrement from infected rodents,(knowing this is a wilderness area with a large rodent population) this would have been the best way to secure the safety of their customers. Curry Village sent out over 1700 fax's and e-mails to visitors mandated by the California Health and Human Services Department on Aug. 27th a few days ago only because they were mandated to do so. In their notification to people they included the line "It's a wilderness area and with it comes some danger". Curry Village knew the end of June that there was one confirmed case reported to the CDC, that should have been enough warning and why it took the CDC and Cal. Dept. of Health so long to act is unconscionable, especially now when as many as 10,000 lives could be at stake.
The great thing about the private sector is the incompetent go out of business. Unless, of course, they are "too big to fail".
they should just tear them all down, screw having anything nice because people freak out about everything. hantavirus isnt new neither are mice- anywhere that has mice which is everywhere, has the risk of hantavirus outbreaks.
Exposure does not guarantee infection. If you were among those exposed, heed the warning and get checked.
Why is the government even getting involved with this? What a waste of tax payer money! If I can't stay in hantavirus infected cabins, then I'm not truly free.
Why indeed...6 dead, when the flu kills 33,000 a year. I suppose we need mice hunting bureaus now, and an armed group complete with self written search warrants to pull random checks on homes for mice droppings.
Your attempt at sarcasm only shows ignorance and state-worship out of irrationality.
i agree Pro- while we are at it we can track down bigfoot with all our shiny new drones (at the taxpayer expense of course) then we can pay the TSA to go hunt honeybees and put caps on their stingers, that would save 50 lives a year. Then we can have the fire marshal go to every home and put a shut off control on your clothes dryer, 10 people die a year from dryers and 10 are injured- also more dangerous than a mouse.
Obama had a special news conference and let everyone know it is Bush's fault.
Don't make this political - it could affect 10,000 people and is a serious disease. The president would never make such a shallow statement. From your name you must be proud of your service. Many in my family have also served, husband included, and none would make such a lame statement.
MGfromIL You clearly must be black to feel you need to defend abamanation, just remember being born in kenya dosen't change the fact that he is still only a half breed white/black. He is good at lieing tho, he must take after his daddy.
MG;
EVERYTHING is political these days. Illness, hurricanes, Tornadoes, Earth quakes, the poor, the rich, the illiterate, the intellectually gifted. It matters not, politicians of all parties try to claim their policies, programs, whatever MUST be responsible. Watch the dog and pony show as the political con men flock the LA to push their recovery plans and do the political two step. We have four political flavors now, Democrats, Independents, Republicans and Tea party. Now let's form an acronym as government is so fond of doing, D.I.R.T.,,, That's right dirt. About as accurate as I've seen since they are ALL dirty, ALL the time. Politicians have one thing in common, If it's mouth is moving, It IS lying to you.
Mark, you are either a disgusting troll or scum..sounds like both from that post. A Vet? Whatever happened to dignity and honor? That was unnecessary and uncalled for. This is about people getting sick and dying. You had to make it political? Really classy.
I agree with you Ram...Mark you are terrible do you hear yourself or read what you just wrote. I'm not a Obama fan FAR from it...but you are beyond even a Republicans nasty. WOW this country has come so far why do you have to say something so RACIST .....no I'm not black either....I'm a white conservative women who thinks you are a PIG !!! You should be ashamed of yourself ....thats ok if your not the rest of us are ashamed of you !!!
I prefer dealing with computer viruses.
The Gov't should send a virus in with all the welfare checks
They do...it's called dependency, my mysanthropic friend.
You're the type who put small pox on Native Americans' blankets.
Yeah and it should be mandatory drug testing for Wall Street and congress too.,
My wife and I, our two college-age sons, and my parents who are in their 70s stayed in the Curry Village tents for three nights in late June. We also had a fourth night in the same type of tent at Tuolumne Meadows. We are fine and have exceeded the incubation period. Yosemite is such a beautiful place and the crowds so well managed that it is a shame to have this blight hanging over the park. Of course, it is tragic that people have become ill and even died from wanting to enjoy the things we got to do.
This is why I do not go camping. My idea of roughing it is staying at the Holiday Inn instead of the Four Seasons.
Nah, you would be fine. Spent lots of time outdoors camping and never caught hantavirus, attacked by a bear, chased by wolves or bit by a rattlesnake. Have encountered more life threatening situations in cities and while driving. Will never understand why people are afraid of the outdoors.
And this is why when I go camping, I prefer to bring my OWN tent. No mice in there.
Not sure about hotel stays either: germs (and other coodies) on the remotes/phones, etc. may not always be completely eradicated, fecal matter residue that is not visible to the eye, bed bugs, carpets not shampooed and on and on. No, I'm not just talking about cheap, dumpy hotels ... I've heard and read about this being the case in very nice hotels also. It's a toss up isn't it?
Going anywhere, even on a picnic, could be a problem. There are always wild animals scampering around picnic and camp grounds. Many people put food, silverware, etc. directly on dirty, contaminated picnic tables and then eat the food they have prepared. I can't understand why anyone would want to sleep in one of those disgusting tents - makes me think of National Lampoon's Vacation - Chevy Chase and all. As far as camping, I'd rather have a cookout in my backyard and enjoy the comforts of home.
Rodents probably live in your back yard as well.
If you live in an area that sees snowfall, look for their little tiny tracks leading to and from your garage. They burrow under your mulch (the wood chips) in your landscaping, too. The long-tailed ones leave little tail-drag prints along with footprints. They're still there if you don't have snow, you just don't see the tracks.
don't buy anything either, most warehouses have horrid mice and rat problems. they run free and pee and poop on everything
that means 3663 people are going to die that sucks that's unacceptable time to redesign those tent crazy i was just in SF, Ca and i was going to do a 2 night stay in those tents with my kids soooo glad i'm cheap i thought it was too over priced for what you got turns out i was right
Do you proofread what you write?
What about mice that get in walls in houses and vents and leave there feces and urine.......Isn't there a risk there?
Yes, there is.
There is definitely a risk. The virus is inhaled, keep your homes rodent free, keep brush away from your house and keep food stuff in rodent proof containers. Use common sense here and google the Mayo Clinic site or the CDC site for more information.
Well I am not saying mice dropping in the house itself but, in the walls and floors, etc. When you live in the country there is no way to keep all of them from getting into your houses
I live in the country and have gone through my share of mice infestations. I went away for a week and when I got home I discovered the wee beasties had nested in the insulation of my stove. That required gloves, disinfectant and replacing the insulation in the stove. The best thing is to keep all areas of your home free of the little beggars by no access to food, using traps and vacuuming with a bag, disinfecting etc. If they're in the wall or under the house, just be cautious if you have to remove wall coverings or go between walls or do any cutting into the walls. Vacuum with a bag and burn the bag and use disposable gloves to handle suspect material. Don't breathe the dust.
Mice are opportunists and they don't like being disturbed or left without access to food. A cat that hunts mice is also a good idea. I have one, she's great, kills them and leaves their corpses on the door mat. The deer mouse is the likely suspect, generally the common house mouse isn't unless it comes into contact with deer mice or other carriers.
Exercise common sense, there are lots of dangerous things in the world that most of us never encounter and if common sense precautions are exercised there is generally little danger. Until they get the outbreak under control, I'd recommend staying away from tents in Yosemite.
http://www.cdc.gov/hantavirus/pdf/prev-card_en.pdf
Are these mice mainly in the west, or all over the country? Man, I used to live in a cottage in PA, and it was wonderful out on a big property, it was the old guest cottage for this guy's estate, and it was cheap as hell (105 rent per month) but it had holes to the outside and mice came and went as they pleased. I'm glad I survived those years. Now I have cats...>:) No worries.
dont get comfy just yet paranoid america, cats can spread hantavirus to humans via the mouse corpse. everywhere they drag it is contaminated and if they eat it or roll in it (dogs too btw) you could catch it by petting them. between 10-23% of cats are seropositive for hantavirus. antibodies to some hantaviruses have been found in cats, dogs, swine, horses, cattle, deer, rabbits/ hares, chipmunks, birds, pigs and moose
All the "new and improved" tents should be taken down and destroyed. Any occupant that develops the virus should be reimbursed for cost of medical and any lost wages while away from work and any medical treatment required in the future stemming from the illness; all paid for by the federal government as the Department of Wildlife and Recreation Parks did not ensure the safety (this isn't like mountain climbing or hiking and a mountain lion attacks...).
fine, they can use your money- not mine. mice spread disease, mice also live everywhere, mice live in the greatest numbers in wooded areas ergo if you go camping in a fixed structure in the woods expect mice
West Nile Virus. Lyme Disease. Bird Flu. Polio on the way back, I've read. Are these just a few of the plagues of the last days. Are they a lot more to come and really get worse. Fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. God's judgement is true and final. Christ died for you. Accept that sacrifice, believe that Jesus died so his blood could atone for all the sins of man, we only have to accept. To deny is final.
Or maybe there are lots of animals..including people...who live near each other and cross-infect each other. Just a thought. Illnesses from wildlife have plagued humans since there first were humans, and if that makes it end times then it's been coming really slowly..lol.
A working mind is a terrible thing to waste.
really 6 people die of hantavirus which is confirmed to have existed and killed as early as 1955, is a sign of the end times? more people die by clothes dryer or honeybees- does that make them devils since combined they kill 10 times as many as hantavirus? rodent borne disease isn't new either- they had a nifty thing called the plaque which killed 1/3 of europe.
To the man who prefers hotel rooms. Mice are also present in hotel rooms and do not forget the bedbugs. Bringing your own tent is not a solution since the mice can enter your tent anytime. When you venture out into the woods there are risks. You just need to know the risks and take precautions. Around Yosemite there are also ticks and rattlesnakes. I have traveled to many tropical and desert areas in the world but the most number of dangerous snakes I ever encountered was in California on the Feather River.
yeah but at least they vacuum hotels, and from what it says it's much worse if the feces etc has the ability to build up, so unless you had one of these walled tents and the mice can basically move in you'd be 95% better off.
Yup, you make me REALLY happy that I LOVE ALASKA!!! We don't have snakes or ticks...and it's too cold to over winter for most other creepy crawlers... We do however have voles (a lot like mouse/gerbal/hamsters).
Time to break out the Hazmat suits! Nobody is safe from anything anymore.
We are "officially" 3rd world now.....oh, and "our people" (govt.) are on it!
"Federal Government", incompetency at it's finest. Nobody doing quality control regarding the proper cleaning of these tents between occupancies. Too busy cashing in the money. $$$ The Teenagers hired by the Concessionaires are given little training and less Supervision. No Park Official checking to see what their Concessionaires are or are not doing.
How much is this fiasco going to costs us? Why hold any Government Official accountable? This can all be solved by throwing more money at it!
Yosemite is too Great a Natural resource to make it the drive through Carnival attraction it has become. Strictly another cash cow to the Feds.
No matter how many signs you post. No matter how many pamphlets you hand out. When too many people are allowed to run around, tragedy will strike. Diseases, drownings, maulings. Next a giant bolder will take out a Family and every sue happy attorney will be out claiming that nobody said, "Mother Nature Kills", randomly and without discrimination.
Time to give Yosemite a long overdue rest. Close it for five years, give it a chance to catch it's breath. It's time we give something back to this incredibly beautiful piece of Earth.
Deer me, 18% of the mice are infected with deadly virus and Muslim Terrorists are trapping and genetically breeding a super strain of even more deadly Deer Mice. What do you suppose they intend to do all the ground up infected Deer Mouse @!$%#? Will they dump it in the heat and ventilation air ducts in public buildings in D.C.? Could they be so sinister as to blow the infected @!$%# into the Federal Reserve Banks ? The possibilities are endless as to where Deer Mouse @!$%# may end up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So this ranks as a great place to NOT to build cabins. There are some places in the world that humans have no business being...
nothing special hantavirus wise about this place, all mice can carry it and likely in the same percentage. your just as likely to get it anywhere as you are Yosemite
It takes six weeks for the symptoms to show up !!!!!How much of the country could be infected with a virus that has a 45% kill rate before any one realized the The Deer Mouse @!$%# had hit the FANS????????????? Sounds like a T.V. plot to a reality extravaganza similar to the Black Death in the dark ages.
Oh my, the irrational fear mongers come out of the woodwork.
6 dead. 10,000 MAY be infected. The flu kills 33,000 a year.
Grow a pair, for Pete's sake. It's tiny risk, not a plague.
Use hot soap and water whenever you touch anything...even your own belongings. These mice can crawl into very small spaces..less than half their own body width. There is nothing to worry about if you keep clean...you...and EVERYTHING around you.
Hantavirus's have been around for more years than you can count on all fingers AND toes. It is nature, just be safe. Killing all the mice will not kill the problem. It is up to the more educated and intelligent being...we human beings...to make the adjustment.
C'mon, really? Is this this invasion of the killer mice? Not even close. Just nature taking it's course, and hoping the human species will wise up to survive. Simple, when one thinks about it.
Perhaps it is nature, but it doesn't change the fact that the CDC is concerned enough to at least let the general public know. Perhaps through more awareness people will take extra precautions. This particular strain of hantavirus has only been known to cause problems in this country for a relatively short time (in contrast with Yellow Fever and pox viruses). Yes, hygiene is important, but even the most diligent can be at risk, because it's hard to clean the air you breathe of those tiny particles that could have minute amounts of mouse feces carrying the disease.
If an area was known to carry a greater risk than others, I think it would be wise to avoid sleeping there (if one has a choice) - but that's just my humble opinion and the concept of using uncommon sense. It's not always possible to avoid ALL risks to one's health without giving up life's enjoyment.
And this is what happens when you allow Dominionists with guns to excessively hunt natural predators who would have curbed the populations of rodents. I hope the survivors of the deceased victims, as well as the survivors of hantavirus, sue the bejeezus out of the ranchers, hunters and anyone associated with the wholesale slaughter of wolves and coyotes.
Wolves and coyotes 2 thums up