erugs
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We know that the white footed mouse is one of the carriers of the bacteria that causes Lyme disease. Here's another, a virus, carried by rodents in Yosemite. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48811189/ns/health-infectious_diseases/
Rodents in Yosemite Carry Deadly Virus
- Thread starter erugs
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Kevin Rooney
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For what it's worth - despite the article, the hantavirus is not that rare in the Eastern Sierra and parts of the desert Southwest. It's actually pretty common. You have to be particularly careful not to disturb areas where mice and other rodents live, like old mining camps, etc. When there's a known contamination in a area, particularly a campsite, warning signs are often posted.
Fisher Cat
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I automatically knew what this post was even before reading it. My dad worked for NBC in the 90's and was briefly posted in CO & NM. My mom did a lot of work on Native Reservations in NM while there she unknowingly picked up the virus working under the same conditions as they described. Thn they moved back to NH. In the interim 2 people had died on one of the reservations and it was a mystery why for a bit of time.
This virus is certainly no joke as it stayed dormant in my mom's system for years. It wasn't till she had a bout of true pneumonia that the virus sprang to life, and since it mirrored he same symptoms the doctor's back East were dumbfounded. It wasn't till they found out where they had been living years before that they started to put the pieces together and had to confer with doctor's out west on how to deal with it. She eventually responded to the treatment, which is throw everything you got at it, and see what happens.
That experience and others, coupled with this spring's heart attack in her sleep, we call her the "Terminator", impossible to destroy it seems, not that we are trying!
This virus is certainly no joke as it stayed dormant in my mom's system for years. It wasn't till she had a bout of true pneumonia that the virus sprang to life, and since it mirrored he same symptoms the doctor's back East were dumbfounded. It wasn't till they found out where they had been living years before that they started to put the pieces together and had to confer with doctor's out west on how to deal with it. She eventually responded to the treatment, which is throw everything you got at it, and see what happens.
That experience and others, coupled with this spring's heart attack in her sleep, we call her the "Terminator", impossible to destroy it seems, not that we are trying!
DougPaul
Well-known member
Rodents in that part of the world also carry fleas that carry and spread bubonic plague. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubonic_plague
Report of a recent case: http://healthland.time.com/2011/05/10/first-case-of-bubonic-plague-in-2011-appears-in-new-mexico/
Yet another reason for thinking twice about feeding that cute little ground squirrel... (Human food is also generally bad for them.)
Doug
Report of a recent case: http://healthland.time.com/2011/05/10/first-case-of-bubonic-plague-in-2011-appears-in-new-mexico/
Yet another reason for thinking twice about feeding that cute little ground squirrel... (Human food is also generally bad for them.)
Doug
