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Published Date: 2014-04-27 16:35:58
Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Hantavirus update - Americas (15): USA (VA) susp. RFI
Archive Number: 20140427.2433274
HANTAVIRUS UPDATE - AMERICAS (15): USA (VIRGINIA), SUSPECTED, REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
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A ProMED-mail post
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
Date: Fri 25 Apr 2014
Source: The Roanoke Times [edited]
In Pulaski County, 2 people died Friday [25 Apr 2014], and 4 were hospitalized after an unidentified illness. The Virginia Department of Health issued a statement about 5 p.m. on Friday that said the illness occurred among a small group of people limited to one family of 5 and a close family friend.
Josh Tolbert, the emergency management coordinator for Pulaski County, said the illness could be [a] hantavirus [infection], which can progress to hantavirus pulmonary syndrome [HPS], which can be fatal, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.
People become infected through contact with hantavirus-infected rodents or their urine or droppings. However, health department officials cannot confirm this and are investigating other illnesses as well.
County officials had a conference on Friday [25 Apr 2014] with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Virginia Department of Health [VDH], who are assisting with the situation. Officials are encouraging people to remain calm.
The release from VDH said there is "absolutely no indication of person-to-person transmission. At this point in the investigation, there is no indication of any public health risk. This appears to be an isolated incident with a single-source exposure," the release said. "The site of possible exposure is known and on private property. It has been secured pending further environmental investigation."
Tolbert and Pulaski County Sheriff Jim Davis said the sick family is from Snowville, and certain areas were secured and blocked off by police, including where the family lived.
Tolbert said the family had been cleaning out a long-vacated mobile home near their residence and that site had been secured by police as well. He also said the family dumped materials in a container at a nearby dump site and that container has been taken away. "These are just precautionary measures until we can find out for sure," he said. "Nothing indicates it's anything more than that they were infected by the site itself."
Tolbert said samples taken from the people who died are being tested to check for possible causes, and it should be 2-3 days before the results come back.
The public was 1st alerted to the health issue on Friday [25 Apr 2014] when Pulaski County school officials alerted parents that one of its families suffered an "isolated illness."
The health department encourages anyone experiencing flu-like symptoms to see a physician, according to the release.
In the case of hantavirus[es], the virus is spread through infected rodents or their droppings, not through other people. Symptoms are flu-like. Initially, there is a fever of 101 to 104 degrees F [38-40 C] and muscle aches, followed by headaches, coughing, nausea or vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain.
There is no specific treatment for the disease, although medical care can help infected individuals. According to the CDC, infection with hantavirus[es] can progress to hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, which is rare and fatal about 38 per cent of the time.
While people can contract the disease anywhere, western states have experienced the most exposure.
Since 1993, according to the CDC, there have been 639 confirmed cases of HPS in the U.S., with one case in Virginia. An Appalachian Trail hiker from Australia contracted hantavirus [infection] in Virginia in 1994. He recovered. A Virginia Tech [University] wildlife graduate student studying small mammals in a rural part of nearby West Virginia also developed HPS and died in 2004.
While [a] hantavirus [infection] is suspected, officials are looking into several other possible causes, Tolbert said.
He said since the news broke of an unexplained but isolated illness in Pulaski County, emergency services have received an increase in calls regarding people with flu-like symptoms. That is expected in a situation like this, as people's concerns rise, he said. "Because we are seeing some influenza activity in the community, people in the area may experience flu symptoms," the VDH release said. "If you are concerned you may be developing influenza, please follow up with your family physician as you normally would." However, officials say there is still no public health risk.
[Byline: Tonia Moxley, Tiffany Holland, Amy Friedenberger]
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Communicated by:
<promed@promedmail.org>
[A cluster of 6 apparently simultaneous hantavirus infections would be unusual. This report does not indicate whether these cases have progressed to disease similar to HPS or why infections with a hantavirus are suspected, as opposed to other serious respiratory infections. It does not speculate on which of the hantaviruses might be involved in these cases.
Hantaviruses that cause hantavirus pulmonary syndrome [HPS] in the eastern and southeastern USA and their rodent hosts include: Monongahela (_Peromyscus maniculatus_), New York (_P. Leucopus_), Bayou (_Oryzomys palustris_), and Black Creek Canal (_Sigmadon hispidus_) viruses. There have been 3 cases of Monongahela hantavirus infections in Randolph County, West Virginia (see the CDC Weekly Morbidity and Mortality Report of November 2004 at http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5346a3.htm). Randolph county is relatively close to Pulaski county Virginia, where the above cases occurred. ProMED would appreciate receiving results of the laboratory tests when they become available.
Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Hantavirus update - Americas (15): USA (VA) susp. RFI
Archive Number: 20140427.2433274
HANTAVIRUS UPDATE - AMERICAS (15): USA (VIRGINIA), SUSPECTED, REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
************************************************** ***********************************
A ProMED-mail post
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
Date: Fri 25 Apr 2014
Source: The Roanoke Times [edited]
In Pulaski County, 2 people died Friday [25 Apr 2014], and 4 were hospitalized after an unidentified illness. The Virginia Department of Health issued a statement about 5 p.m. on Friday that said the illness occurred among a small group of people limited to one family of 5 and a close family friend.
Josh Tolbert, the emergency management coordinator for Pulaski County, said the illness could be [a] hantavirus [infection], which can progress to hantavirus pulmonary syndrome [HPS], which can be fatal, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.
People become infected through contact with hantavirus-infected rodents or their urine or droppings. However, health department officials cannot confirm this and are investigating other illnesses as well.
County officials had a conference on Friday [25 Apr 2014] with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Virginia Department of Health [VDH], who are assisting with the situation. Officials are encouraging people to remain calm.
The release from VDH said there is "absolutely no indication of person-to-person transmission. At this point in the investigation, there is no indication of any public health risk. This appears to be an isolated incident with a single-source exposure," the release said. "The site of possible exposure is known and on private property. It has been secured pending further environmental investigation."
Tolbert and Pulaski County Sheriff Jim Davis said the sick family is from Snowville, and certain areas were secured and blocked off by police, including where the family lived.
Tolbert said the family had been cleaning out a long-vacated mobile home near their residence and that site had been secured by police as well. He also said the family dumped materials in a container at a nearby dump site and that container has been taken away. "These are just precautionary measures until we can find out for sure," he said. "Nothing indicates it's anything more than that they were infected by the site itself."
Tolbert said samples taken from the people who died are being tested to check for possible causes, and it should be 2-3 days before the results come back.
The public was 1st alerted to the health issue on Friday [25 Apr 2014] when Pulaski County school officials alerted parents that one of its families suffered an "isolated illness."
The health department encourages anyone experiencing flu-like symptoms to see a physician, according to the release.
In the case of hantavirus[es], the virus is spread through infected rodents or their droppings, not through other people. Symptoms are flu-like. Initially, there is a fever of 101 to 104 degrees F [38-40 C] and muscle aches, followed by headaches, coughing, nausea or vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain.
There is no specific treatment for the disease, although medical care can help infected individuals. According to the CDC, infection with hantavirus[es] can progress to hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, which is rare and fatal about 38 per cent of the time.
While people can contract the disease anywhere, western states have experienced the most exposure.
Since 1993, according to the CDC, there have been 639 confirmed cases of HPS in the U.S., with one case in Virginia. An Appalachian Trail hiker from Australia contracted hantavirus [infection] in Virginia in 1994. He recovered. A Virginia Tech [University] wildlife graduate student studying small mammals in a rural part of nearby West Virginia also developed HPS and died in 2004.
While [a] hantavirus [infection] is suspected, officials are looking into several other possible causes, Tolbert said.
He said since the news broke of an unexplained but isolated illness in Pulaski County, emergency services have received an increase in calls regarding people with flu-like symptoms. That is expected in a situation like this, as people's concerns rise, he said. "Because we are seeing some influenza activity in the community, people in the area may experience flu symptoms," the VDH release said. "If you are concerned you may be developing influenza, please follow up with your family physician as you normally would." However, officials say there is still no public health risk.
[Byline: Tonia Moxley, Tiffany Holland, Amy Friedenberger]
--
Communicated by:
<promed@promedmail.org>
[A cluster of 6 apparently simultaneous hantavirus infections would be unusual. This report does not indicate whether these cases have progressed to disease similar to HPS or why infections with a hantavirus are suspected, as opposed to other serious respiratory infections. It does not speculate on which of the hantaviruses might be involved in these cases.
Hantaviruses that cause hantavirus pulmonary syndrome [HPS] in the eastern and southeastern USA and their rodent hosts include: Monongahela (_Peromyscus maniculatus_), New York (_P. Leucopus_), Bayou (_Oryzomys palustris_), and Black Creek Canal (_Sigmadon hispidus_) viruses. There have been 3 cases of Monongahela hantavirus infections in Randolph County, West Virginia (see the CDC Weekly Morbidity and Mortality Report of November 2004 at http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5346a3.htm). Randolph county is relatively close to Pulaski county Virginia, where the above cases occurred. ProMED would appreciate receiving results of the laboratory tests when they become available.
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