Re: Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome Response Continues at Yosemite National Park

Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome Response Continues at Yosemite National Park
Date: August 27, 2012

Park Takes Additional Steps to Protect Public Health

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK - The recent diagnosis of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) in two Californians, one of whom died, has prompted Yosemite National Park to scale up its public health response and outreach. The National Park Service Office of Public Health learned over the weekend of a confirmed third case, which resulted in a fatality, and probable fourth case, of hantavirus in individuals who visited Yosemite National Park in June of this year. An outreach effort is currently underway by the park concessioner to contact visitors who stayed in "Signature Tent Cabins" at Curry Village from mid-June through the end of August. These individuals are being informed of the recent cases and are being advised to seek immediate medical attention if they exhibit any symptoms of hantavirus.

Hantavirus is a rare but serious disease that occurs throughout the United States. Early medical attention is critical for individuals who contract hantavirus. The disease begins with fever and aches, but can progress rapidly to life-threatening illness. Public health officials believe the four recent visitors might have been exposed while vacationing at Curry Village in Yosemite National Park.

Yosemite National Park has set up a general, non-emergency phone line for all questions and concerns related to hantavirus in Yosemite National Park. The phone number is (209) 372-0822 and it will be staffed from 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. daily.

"The health of our visitors is our paramount concern and we are making every effort to notify and inform our visitors of any potential illness," said Don Neubacher, Yosemite National Park Superintendent. "Because people often don't get sick from hantavirus until one to six weeks after exposure, we are encouraging anyone who stayed in Curry Village since June to be aware of the symptoms of hantavirus and seek medical attention at the first sign of illness".

The National Park Service Office of Public Health has issued a call for cases to state and local health departments nationwide, and is working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to heighten public health awareness and detection. The park and concessioner have also increased public education efforts geared towards visitors and park employees. This includes distributing information to all visitors entering the park, information at Curry Village registration area, and notifications throughout the park.

California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and Yosemite National Park Public Health Service officers conduct periodic rodent surveys to monitor deer mouse abundance and virus activity in mouse populations. Yosemite National Park has conducted additional rodent trapping and is increasing rodent-proofing and trapping measures in tent cabins and buildings throughout the park. Structures throughout the park continue to be cleaned by following recommended practices and are inspected regularly. Yosemite also conducts routine rodent proofing of buildings and facilities throughout the park.

Since HPS was first identified in 1993, there have been approximately 60 cases in California and 587 cases nationally. About one third of HPS cases identified have been fatal.

HPS is caused by a virus that individuals get through contact with the urine, droppings or saliva of infected rodents, primarily deer mice. Not all deer mice carry hantavirus, but deer mice with hantavirus have been found throughout the United States. Most infections are caused by breathing small particles of mouse urine or droppings that have been stirred up into the air. If the virus is contracted, the symptoms appear one to six weeks after exposure with fever, headache, and muscle ache, and progresses rapidly to severe difficulty in breathing and, in some cases, death.Early medical attention can greatly increase the chance of survival, so it is important to seek medical attention immediately if an individual experiences any of these symptoms and may have been exposed to rodents.

When people are in wilderness areas or places that harbor mice, individuals can take the following steps to prevent HPS:

• Avoid areas, especially indoors, where wild rodents are likely to have been present.
• Keep food in tightly sealed containers and store away from rodents.
• Keep rodents out of buildings by removing stacked wood, rubbish piles, and discarded junk from around homes and sealing any holes where rodents could enter.
• When cleaning asleeping or living area, open windows to air out the areas for at least two hours before entering. Take care not to stir up dust. Wear plastic gloves and spray areas contaminated with rodent droppings and urine with a 10% bleach solution or other household disinfectants and wait at least 15 minutes before cleaning the area. Place the waste in double plastic bags, each tightly sealed, and discard in the trash. Wash hands thoroughly afterward.
• Do not touch or handle live rodents and wear gloves when handling dead rodents. Spray dead rodents with a disinfectant and dispose of in the same way as droppings. Wash hands thoroughly after handling dead rodents.
• If there are large numbers of rodents in a home or other buildings, contact a pest control service to remove them.

For additional information on preventing HPS, visit the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Hantavirus Webpage.

Could I get your opinion on whether or not I should insist on changing our "signature tent" to a regular canvas tent, after the NPS press release that just came out today giving the location of the outbreaks?

Last week I had reservations for both a signature tent and a regular canvas tent, nobody there would tell me where the outbreak took place so I took a chance and chose the signature tent, canceled the canvas tent.

Thanks,
HD2012

They've done a very thorough cleaning of the Signature tents (not sure if they've done the same type of cleaning for all the other Canvas Tents and other cabins) so in my way of thinking, you're probably safer in sticking with the Signature tents.

(I wouldn't be surprised if DNC also made an effort to do a thorough eradication of the field mice and other rodents around the Signature tents. That would be a standard operating procedure in most places for vector control. Though I have no confirmation that DNC has done that except for what's been said in the press release about conducting “additional rodent trapping and is increasing rodent-proofing and trapping measures in tent cabins and buildings throughout the park.”)
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Thank you plawrence-appreciate the response! I'll talk it over with the other 2 in my group on our way up to Yosemite today.
One good ray of sunshine is that we got our permits to climb HD! Now lets hope the weather's good for safety sake=)

Update: our team of 3 arrived in Yosemite Park on 8/28/12. The Ranger who took our $20 per vehicle entrance fee gave us our receipt, park newspaper, map and a notice about the Hantavirus.

Upon checking into Camp Curry, we asked if we could change our reservation from the Signature tent to a regular tent cabin without being accessed the 7 day cancellation policy fee and the clerk said (after checking with another clerk) there would be no problem, so we made the change. Glad we did because the following day we heard that they closed all the Signature tents, meaning we would have had to relocate after having already settling in for 1 night (and might possibly have been in the exposure zone).

One news report I read said that mouse droppings were found around certain Signature tents and the "bathrooms". These would have been the mens & womans toilets & showers in Boystown where the Signature tents are located. The 2 large bathroom buildings were not closed off and the tiny little cabins surrounding them were all occupied.

Many are wondering how the virus has infected so many (6 as of today) when it's so rare. I sure hope they checked those bathrooms for mouse infestation since those could be the one's that all who were infected used?!

This was our first time staying in Camp Curry and on our first night walking to dinner with our headlamps on, could see all the fine dust particles lingering in the air just from the people walking on the dirt pathways that seperate the tent cabins! There was no way to prevent breathing them in (without a mask of some sort).

I will certainly see my doctor if I have any of the symptoms of Hantavirus. This coming Tuesday will be 1 week since we stayed in Camp Curry where possible exposure could have taken place. I will probably contact her anyways and see if she wants me to have some blood work done as a precaution.

I hope the other people that got infected will be ok and that no other cases show up!

On a much happier note: our team successfully climbed Half Dome the day after we arrived in Yosemite-AWESOME!! =)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/01/2012 11:51PM by HD2012.

From CNN:

If my tent cabin did not reek of Clorox, I wouldn't stay in it.

More here on rolling closures / cleaning of cabins.

Thanks for the link to the Los Angeles Times article.

A couple of comments about what was written in the article:

“After the 2010 case, park officials worked with public health authorities to reevaluate existing hantavirus prevention protocol, McCabe said. The updates, including changes to cleaning policies, were finalized in April.

For instance, McCabe said, although the cabins were always cleaned after guests checked out, visitors used to be able to sweep out their cabins daily, potentially stirring up dust carrying the virus. Park officials trained in how to handle mouse droppings now do that task.

And although officials are still trapping and testing deer mice across the park to determine what caused this outbreak, McCabe said, they are "pretty confident that it's not a cleanliness issue."

"We've reviewed the cases; we've reviewed the cleaning methods," she said. "It makes you start wondering, what has changed? What is going on in the environment? That's really the question."”


Uh, it is a cleanliness issue. No two ways about it. Maybe the Park Service and DNC has developed a new protocol and cleaning policies to help prevent it, but was it really being followed? Were the canvas tent cabins being disinfected with bleach and then thoroughly vacuumed after each visitor's stay? I doubt it. (Note, that according the article, the previous two cases in 2000 and 2010 appeared to have occurred at the Tuolumne Meadows Lodge and its canvas tent cabins.)


“The park has since stepped up its response, implementing "rolling closures" of the cabins for deep cleaning, McCabe said. Crews are tearing down interior walls to look inside and repairing holes where mice could get into the structures.

The California Department of Public Health said Tuesday afternoon that it had recommended a closure of affected cabins "due to the level of mouse activity and presence of the hantavirus." Gediman said the closure was part of the cleaning and repair process already underway.”


Funny that the Park Service didn't pass along this tidbit of information in its press releases about the hantavirus outbreak. If the CDPH recommended closure of the affected tent cabins due to the level of mice infestation, then the Park Service and DNC should have closed off those cabins immediately.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/29/2012 05:44AM by plawrence.

I wonder how often the blankets, pillows and comforters are washed. While the mice wouldn't be able to climb up the metal frames of the cots, the bedding falls on the floor picks up the mice dropping dust and is put back on the bed where we breathe it in all night.

I'm sorry but mice and/or rats can climb up a great deal more then you think!

Which makes the washing of the bedding even more important.

It might help to keep mice out of the cabins if they banned all food from the cabins. People put their food in the bear boxes at night, but during the day, you know people are snacking in the cabins, dropping crumbs which lure in the mice.

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Mom

It might help to keep mice out of the cabins if they banned all food from the cabins. People put their food in the bear boxes at night, but during the day, you know people are snacking in the cabins, dropping crumbs which lure in the mice.

Great idea ! I saw a guy once eating potato chips in his cabin. Had to be crumbs everywhere.

Out of curiousity, I logged onto the Curry Village reservations website. Plenty of availability. Not a word about hantavirus.

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Mom
Out of curiousity, I logged onto the Curry Village reservations website. Plenty of availability. Not a word about hantavirus.

If you go to www.yosemitepark.com on the top of the page that first shows up there are three notices that rotate and one of them is on the hantavirus.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/29/2012 11:51AM by parklover.

Another article, this one with photos of the Signature tent cabins and stories from people who stayed in them in the last few days.

I just rolled my eyes when I read in the above article this quote from park's spokesman, Scott Gideman:

“"We're doing our best, but it is impossible to make the cabins impenetrable," Gediman said. "This is a wilderness environment. The deer mice are native to the area, so we don't want to do anything to eradicate them."”


Curry Village is NOT a wilderness environment. It's NOT located in a designated wilderness. It's located in designated parkland. The Park Service could do more to reduce the population of deer mice in and around Curry Village and the Yosemite Lodge if they desire. The deer mice are NOT an endangered species, but a vector of a very deadly disease. It amazes me that the Park Service feels that the deer mice population around Curry Village shouldn't be reduced.

Of course, it would be impossible to totally eliminate the deer mice population around Curry Village and the Yosemite Lodge, but there are a number of steps that the Park Service could implement to severely reduce the population of the disease carrying deer mice including, but not limited to, setting about poison mice bait in and around the tent cabins to even having a domestic spayed or neutered cat or two out and about the tent cabins helping keep the field mice (and other vermin) population in check.

(They could even put radio tags on the cats' collars to keep track of the cats to ensure they don't wonder off somewhere where they shouldn't be. )



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/29/2012 03:48PM by plawrence.

Sounds like between yesterday and today they went from a "rolling closure for deep cleaning" to a "closure for extensive renovation" of the Signature Tent Cabins.

This according to a comment on the parks FB page "Yosemite National Park ‎Carola Sprink, the Signature cabins are different from the traditional tent cabins. The Signature cabins featured additional insulation and interior walls of either painted plywood or sheetrock. As of yesterday evening, all of the Signature cabins are closed for extensive renovations. All three of the confirmed cases of hantavirus are linked to these Signature cabins. As part of the response to these cases, we are working with the NPS Public Health Office and California Department of Public Health to inspect all potential areas of concern in the park."

OK what is it about the signature cabins that makes them so susceptable to the hanitvirus? Are we talking it's a design issue or something else?

It possibly could be the insulation between the canvas walls and the interior walls. It would make a nice place to have a nest. The other tent cabins are just canvas walls.

Cats wouldn't last one night in Curry Village. The coyotes would be on them like the new Curry Village buffet.

The problem with poisoning the mice is that whatever then eats the mice then ingests the poison and is then poisoned..and that is not a pretty sight.

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nightsklabs
The problem with poisoning the mice is that whatever then eats the mice then ingests the poison and is then poisoned..and that is not a pretty sight.

That is one claim. I have been using poison bait for ground squirrels for decades. I've not seen one dead one. They, and most likely the mice too, eat some of the bait, feel sick and their instincts make them go to the safest place they know; their home. That is also a place where preditors are unlikely to find them - or eat them.

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Mom
Cats wouldn't last one night in Curry Village. The coyotes would be on them like the new Curry Village buffet.

Cats usually evade the coyotes. It's owls that often get them.

Update: our team of 3 arrived in Yosemite Park on 8/28/12. The Ranger who took our $20 per vehicle entrance fee gave us our receipt, park newspaper, map and a notice about the Hantavirus.

Upon checking into Camp Curry, we asked if we could change our reservation from the Signature tent to a regular tent cabin without being accessed the 7 day cancellation policy fee and the clerk said (after checking with another clerk) there would be no problem, so we made the change. Glad we did because the following day we heard that they closed all the Signature tents, meaning we would have had to relocate after having already settling in for 1 night (and might possibly have been in the exposure zone).

One news report I read said that mouse droppings were found around certain Signature tents and the "bathrooms". These would have been the mens & womans toilets & showers in Boystown where the Signature tents are located. The 2 large bathroom buildings were not closed off and the tiny little cabins surrounding them were all occupied.

Many are wondering how the virus has infected so many (6 as of today) when it's so rare. I sure hope they checked those bathrooms for mouse infestation since those could be the one's that all who were infected used?!

This was our first time staying in Camp Curry and on our first night walking to dinner with our headlamps on, could see all the fine dust particles lingering in the air just from the people walking on the dirt pathways that seperate the tent cabins! There was no way to prevent breathing them in (without a mask of some sort).

I will certainly see my doctor if I have any of the symptoms of Hantavirus. This coming Tuesday will be 1 week since we stayed in Camp Curry where possible exposure could have taken place. I will probably contact her anyways and see if she wants me to have some blood work done as a precaution.

I hope the other people that got infected will be ok and that no other cases show up!

On a much happier note: our team successfully climbed Half Dome the day after we arrived in Yosemite-AWESOME!! =)

As for hantavirus, it is also known as Four Corners Disease
Four Corners Disease


some history
Four Corners Disease history



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/03/2012 11:47AM by eeek.

Now the LA Times and Reuters are reporting that a third visitor has died and eight are infected. And while seven of those infected stayed at Curry Village, an eighth did a multiple day High Sierra Camp visit in July.

I couldn't find any information on which HSCamps. My friends and I stayed at several HSCamps in July and so I would be very interested if anyone can find any information on which HSCamps were involved.

Since it's about six weeks since we did our trip I think we are 'out of the woods' .

Yosemite National Park and partner staff continued to be involved over the Labor Day Weekend in our collective response to the hantavirus incident. This weekend we were joined by the Pacific West Region (PWR) Incident Management Team which is providing assistance and support in our ongoing response efforts. The PWR Team is providing valuable assistance with planning, public information, logistics, finance and more. Public and media interest remains high. We have also received nearly 1,000 phone inquiries at the call center over the three day weekend with calls from around the world.

Public health officials are still investigating potential cases. When this information is available it will be released to the public and we must all continue to strive for accurate and up-to-date information for park visitors, staff, and community members. During incidents like this we are all involved in public information whether with friends, co-workers, or the public. Please familiarize yourself with all available information on this subject, including the Yosemite Hantavirus Directive, fact sheets, and brochures.

We stayed at TM lodge two days the week of Aug 4 ( some say this is a HSC, others disagree) and we got our official notice today. It says, in part, "Although the CDPH has not identified the specific location inside or outside the park where the individual may have contracted the disease, and a definitive location may never be known, the CDPH has advised that the High Sierra Camps are the most likely source of the infection.". So Delaware North doesn't know, and the CDPH ain't saying.

The 54-year-old woman that got infected with hantavirus in 2010 had stayed in a canvas tent cabin at the Tuolumne Meadows Lodge.

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I got the email notice but I learned more from the most recent news articles. The man had stayed in Tuolumne Meadows, Vogelsang, Merced Lake and Sunrise. He had a mild case, recovered on his own and didn't see a doctor until the news reports about hanta virus in Yosemite came out.

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Mom
I got the email notice but I learned more from the most recent news articles. The man had stayed in Tuolumne Meadows, Vogelsang, Merced Lake and Sunrise. He had a mild case, recovered on his own and didn't see a doctor until the news reports about hanta virus in Yosemite came out.

That sounds suspicious to me. Did the doctors check for any antigen-specific antibodies? He might just be trying to set himself up to be part of some future lawsuit. Kind of like that empty transit bus in New York that got in an accident; 30 or so people filed injury claims.

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Mom
learned more from the most recent news articles.

I keep "learning" Curry is a campground.

We stayed in TM lodge in early July and got a notice earlier this week. I'm thinking (hoping) since it was 2 months ago were in the clear.

They were talking about this on the radio. As tragic as this is, how many people die from the flu every year? Thousands?

It's interesting that there apparently have been no cases reported among housekeeping staff or other employees who'd be exposed to this stuff every day. I don't remember seeing anyone wearing a mask or taking other precautions.

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phantum
It's interesting that there apparently have been no cases reported among housekeeping staff or other employees who'd be exposed to this stuff every day. I don't remember seeing anyone wearing a mask or taking other precautions.

I've heard that question asked quite often. I've never heard an answer though.

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Dave

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phantum

It's interesting that there apparently have been no cases reported among housekeeping staff or other employees who'd be exposed to this stuff every day. I don't remember seeing anyone wearing a mask or taking other precautions.

I've heard that question asked quite often. I've never heard an answer though.

I suspect there could be several reasons why none of the housekeeping staff has come down with the virus. First, it should be obvious that the virus isn't that easy to catch. Thousands of people have stayed at the Signature Tent Cabins this summer and only a handful have been known to have gotten the sick from the hantavirus. Second, the housekeeping staff stays inside each room for a relatively very short time, always with the door of the cabin open, so there's always good ventilation with fresh air while they're cleaning up. Third, the housekeeping staff doesn't spend five to eight hours straight with the head on the bed near the floor and bed blankets that could contain the infected particles of the mice urine and feces and when the mice are the most active. So someone who sleeps in the cabin, especially for a number of days, is probably at a greater risk of being infected than the staff who handles the sheets and bedding at arms length.

Note also that the park staff had already been made aware of the hantavirus before this latest outbreak and have been instructed on ways to reduce their chance of infection.

But what would be interesting (if it hasn't been done already) is to have all the housekeeping staff that worked at the Signature Tent Cabins to be tested for any antigen-specific antibodies related to the hantavirus to see how many of them have been exposed to the virus.

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Certainly helps support the argument that this is pretty random when the total number of exposures is considered. (A crap shoot, dare I say?). It sounds like newer-construction signature cabins were too accommodating, at least for the rodent population, and measures are in the works to fix that.

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plawrence
I suspect there could be several reasons why none of the housekeeping staff has come down with the virus. First, it should be obvious that the virus isn't that easy to catch. Thousands of people have stayed at the Signature Tent Cabins this summer and only a handful have been known to have gotten the sick from the hantavirus. Second, the housekeeping staff stays inside each room for a relatively very short time, always with the door of the cabin open, so there's always good ventilation with fresh air while they're cleaning up. Third, the housekeeping staff doesn't spend five to eight hours straight with the head on the bed near the floor and bed blankets that could contain the infected particles of the mice urine and feces and when the mice are the most active. So someone who sleeps in the cabin, especially for a number of days, is probably at a greater risk of being infected than the staff who handles the sheets and bedding at arms length.

That's my thinking too. Maybe placing food on a contaminated surface and then eating that food could be a source.

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Note also that the park staff had already been made aware of the hantavirus before this latest outbreak and have been instructed on ways to reduce their chance of infection.

I've used a lot of bleach cleaning my desk and keyboard at work.

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But what would be interesting (if it hasn't been done already) is to have all the housekeeping staff that worked at the Signature Tent Cabins to be tested for any antigen-specific antibodies related to the hantavirus to see how many of them have been exposed to the virus..

I would hope the CDC or someone would have done that already. It seems like a prudent thing to do.

Is it possible to get this illness from marmot poop? Accidentally touched some of that on the way to Tuolumne Peak.

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Ohnivy-Drak

Is it possible to get this illness from marmot poop? Accidentally touched some of that on the way to Tuolumne Peak.

Not sure if hantavius is transmitted by marmots, but their poop can contain other viruses, bacteria, and other nasty microorganisms. So I hope you cleaned your hands before handling any food or rubbing your eyes.

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Ohnivy-Drak
Is it possible to get this illness from marmot poop? Accidentally touched some of that on the way to Tuolumne Peak.

They can carry the plague. Talk to 7 year old Sierra Jane Downing about the plague.