Two may have contracted hantavirus while visiting Yosemite

[dipsydoodle]

(CNN) -- Two Californians, one of whom died, may have been exposed to mice droppings or urine that contained hantavirus while vacationing at Yosemite National Park, health officials said Thursday.

The visitors contracted hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome, a rare but often fatal disease of the lung.

The two had stayed at the popular Curry Village in mid-June, according to the California Department of Public Health.

An unidentified 37-year-old man from the San Francisco Bay area died in late July, said Dr. Vicki Kramer, chief of the department's vector-borne disease section.

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/08/16/health/california-hantavirus/index.html

[Heather MC]

1. is this any relation to the black plague?

[dipsydoodle]

2. Nope

carried by the deer mouse as opposed to rats.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hantavirus

I recall a documentary on the subject. Apparently native americans knew of this long ways back to the extent that an outbreak would cause and entire tribe to move elsewhere. Convenient link here : http://www.examiner.com/article/apocalypic-mysterious-plague-killed-millions-of-native-americans-the-1500s