http://news.bellinghamherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060326/NEWS08/603260337
Hantavirus claims local woman's life
Disease spreads through rodent droppings, saliva
A Whatcom County woman died Wednesday of hantavirus, the first known instance of the disease in the county, health officials said Saturday.
The appearance of the virus, which causes flu-like symptoms in those infected, is not an immediate cause for alarm, said Whatcom County Health Officer Greg Stern. The disease spreads through the saliva, urine and droppings of deer mice, not through person-to-person contact.
However, as the weather warms and more people clean out enclosed areas, Stern said the chance of catching the virus rises.
<!-- ARTICLE BODY TEXT 4-end --><!-- also includes the shirttail field --><!--ARTICLE BODY TEXT-->Whatcom County Medical Examiner Gary Goldfogel confirmed Sara M. Shields-Priddy, 44, died of an infectious disease. Shields-Priddy, who lived north of Lynden, originally complained of general malaise and abdominal pain. She began having breathing problems and died shortly after being hospitalized, Stern said.
"Once the lungs are involved, they can go very quickly from feeling vaguely ill to being on a ventilator," he said.
As an investigation into Shields-Priddy's death progressed, hantavirus emerged as the cause of her illness. Tests at Shoreline's State Public Health Laboratory confirmed the presence of hantavirus antibodies in her blood late Friday afternoon, said Tim Church, a spokesman for the state Department of Health.
Though samples will be sent to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta for confirmation testing, Church said officials were confident Shields-Priddy had the hantavirus.
"While it is rare, it is certainly something we see periodically," he said.
The hantavirus is named after the Hantaan River in South Korea, where the disease was discovered. The type of hantavirus that killed Shields-Priddy was first identified in the United States in 1993.
From its U.S. discovery to February of this year, the CDC reports there have been 416 cases of hantavirus across the nation, 32 of those in Washington state. The virus is blamed for 146 deaths in that time.
The virus can be spread through bites, but typically is contracted by breathing in dust from droppings, urine and saliva stirred into the air of garages, cabins and other closed-off areas. Shields-Priddy had "a long history of exposure to rat droppings and debris in a storage area," Stern said.
While the area where Shields-Priddy potentially contracted the virus is now closed off, Stern said she could have gotten it anywhere. An estimated 10 percent of deer mice carry the hantavirus.
For now, the county Health Department will offer Shields-Priddy's family advice on how to clean the potential areas where she contracted the disease. And as more people return to summer cabins and clean out family garages this spring, the chance for new cases rises.
"The message is to be careful and use appropriate caution when working around wild rodents," Stern said. "This is a very rare condition. This doesn't mean people are more or less at risk than before we had this case."
Hantavirus claims local woman's life
Disease spreads through rodent droppings, saliva
A Whatcom County woman died Wednesday of hantavirus, the first known instance of the disease in the county, health officials said Saturday.
The appearance of the virus, which causes flu-like symptoms in those infected, is not an immediate cause for alarm, said Whatcom County Health Officer Greg Stern. The disease spreads through the saliva, urine and droppings of deer mice, not through person-to-person contact.
However, as the weather warms and more people clean out enclosed areas, Stern said the chance of catching the virus rises.
<!-- ARTICLE BODY TEXT 4-end --><!-- also includes the shirttail field --><!--ARTICLE BODY TEXT-->Whatcom County Medical Examiner Gary Goldfogel confirmed Sara M. Shields-Priddy, 44, died of an infectious disease. Shields-Priddy, who lived north of Lynden, originally complained of general malaise and abdominal pain. She began having breathing problems and died shortly after being hospitalized, Stern said.
"Once the lungs are involved, they can go very quickly from feeling vaguely ill to being on a ventilator," he said.
As an investigation into Shields-Priddy's death progressed, hantavirus emerged as the cause of her illness. Tests at Shoreline's State Public Health Laboratory confirmed the presence of hantavirus antibodies in her blood late Friday afternoon, said Tim Church, a spokesman for the state Department of Health.
Though samples will be sent to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta for confirmation testing, Church said officials were confident Shields-Priddy had the hantavirus.
"While it is rare, it is certainly something we see periodically," he said.
The hantavirus is named after the Hantaan River in South Korea, where the disease was discovered. The type of hantavirus that killed Shields-Priddy was first identified in the United States in 1993.
From its U.S. discovery to February of this year, the CDC reports there have been 416 cases of hantavirus across the nation, 32 of those in Washington state. The virus is blamed for 146 deaths in that time.
The virus can be spread through bites, but typically is contracted by breathing in dust from droppings, urine and saliva stirred into the air of garages, cabins and other closed-off areas. Shields-Priddy had "a long history of exposure to rat droppings and debris in a storage area," Stern said.
While the area where Shields-Priddy potentially contracted the virus is now closed off, Stern said she could have gotten it anywhere. An estimated 10 percent of deer mice carry the hantavirus.
For now, the county Health Department will offer Shields-Priddy's family advice on how to clean the potential areas where she contracted the disease. And as more people return to summer cabins and clean out family garages this spring, the chance for new cases rises.
"The message is to be careful and use appropriate caution when working around wild rodents," Stern said. "This is a very rare condition. This doesn't mean people are more or less at risk than before we had this case."