WEDNESDAY, July 24, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Arizona health officials are reporting an increase in hantavirus infections, which are spread by rodents and can cause severe respiratory illness. In a recent , the Arizona Department of Health Services announced there have been seven confirmed cases and three deaths in that state in the past six months. While most hantavirus cases are reported in the Western and Southwestern United States, Arizona has one of highest numbers of reported infections in the country, according to the U.
S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. From 2016-2022, there have been , according to state health officials.
“Hantavirus is a rare but important cause of serious, even fatal respiratory infection,” , chief of infectious diseases at Mount Sinai South Nassau Hospital in New York, told . “It is transmitted by various rodents, especially the deer mouse, and can cause mild disease, but it does cause fatal illness in a significant percentage of people who acquire this illness," he noted. Between 1993 and 2021, the CDC has reported a total of 850 hantavirus cases, or roughly 30 cases a year.
Trish Lees, public information officer at Coconino County Health and Human Services in Arizona, told that the increase in hantavirus cases may be due to shifts in rodent populations. However, cases do tend to occur more in the summer because of increased rodent activity and people coming into contact with rodents more often, Lees explained. Climate change, su.