Deadly 'mouse' virus threatens up to 10,000 Yosemite visitors

 

Tracie Cone
Monday 03 September 2012 09:42 BST
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Up to 10,000 people who visited Yosemite National Park might have been exposed to a deadly, mouse-borne virus, officials confirmed on Friday.

Nearly 3,000 people who reserved the park's insulated "Signature" cabins between June and August have received letters or emails warning them that they are at risk. Park spokesman Scott Gediman said that up to 7,000 more visitors might have been exposed to the hantavirus, which so far has killed two people and made four others ill.

The illness, which begins with flu-like symptoms, can take six weeks to incubate before rapid acute respiratory and organ failure. There is no cure for the disease, which has a 36 per cent mortality rate. AP

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