The Yosemite National Park has a non-emergency phone line (209-372-0822) for questions and concerns related to hantavirus in Yosemite National Park. Furthermore, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has a hotline number (404-639-1510) and information about HPS on the Hantavirus webpage.
Q. When do you know if you have hantavirus?
Q. How long after exposure to hantavirus do symptoms appear?
Due to the small number of HPS cases, the “incubation time” is not positively known. However, on the basis of limited information, it appears that symptoms may develop between 1 and 8 weeks after exposure to fresh urine, droppings, or saliva of infected rodents.
Q. Can you get sick from cleaning up mouse droppings?
It is believed that humans can get sick with this virus if they breathe in contaminated dust from mice nests or droppings. You may come in contact with such dust when cleaning homes, sheds, or other enclosed areas that have been empty for a long time. Hantavirus does not seem to spread from human to human.
Table of Contents
- Q. When do you know if you have hantavirus?
- Q. How long after exposure to hantavirus do symptoms appear?
- Q. Can you get sick from cleaning up mouse droppings?
- Q. Does N95 mask protect against hantavirus?
- Q. How to get help for Hantavirus in Yosemite?
- Q. What are the signs and symptoms of HPS?
- Q. How does hantavirus spread from deer to human?
Q. Does N95 mask protect against hantavirus?
Typically an N95-rated Dust Mask is considered sufficient protection against viruses. Particles from mouse feces might become airborne if they are swept or vacuumed, so spraying with a mixture of bleach and water is recommended before wiping down the areas.
When a rodent is killed by a mouse snap trap, or an electric mouse trap, if the mouse lies for perhaps a day or so before being removed, the smell of the dead mouse can be very strong to other mice. When you bait the trap again, other mice may sense the dead mouse smell and be repelled by it.
Q. How to get help for Hantavirus in Yosemite?
However, on the basis of limited information, it appears that symptoms may develop between 1 and 8 weeks after exposure to fresh urine, droppings, or saliva of infected rodents. Early symptoms include fatigue, fever and muscle aches, especially in the large muscle groups—thighs, hips, back, and sometimes shoulders.
Q. What are the signs and symptoms of HPS?
These symptoms are universal. There may also be headaches, dizziness, chills, and abdominal problems, such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain. About half of all HPS patients experience these symptoms. Four to 10 days after the initial phase of illness, the late symptoms of HPS appear.
Q. How does hantavirus spread from deer to human?
“There have been deer mice found in even Washington, DC and New York City,” Yosemite National Park spokesperson Kari Cobb tells me. Contact with a deer mouse’s fresh urine, feces, or saliva causes the virus to spread to humans, commonly through the inhalation of dust particles that have mixed with animal feces.
