Hantavirus: 10 Practical Considerations
- Mary Nell Wegner, EdM, MPH
- Apr 11
- 4 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
1) Where am I most likely to be at risk for getting hantavirus?
In places where you come into contact with mice. In rural areas—or places like Santa Fe—where mice can easily enter homes, garages, studios, barns, or freestanding outbuildings, it is worth doing everything possible to keep spaces sealed. Pets bringing in rodents from outside can also be a risk; while dogs and cats are not known to acquire hantavirus, the mice in their mouths might be infected.
2) What should I do if I am cleaning and see a lot of mice droppings?
Wear an N-95 mask and gloves and use a spray cleaner with paper towels. Seal all the contaminated waste in a garbage bag. Consider putting a bleach solution (or 1 part bleach to 9 parts water) on any areas where there were droppings. While some advocate for cleaning with a vacuum using a HEPA filter, most experts argue that the risk of aerosolization is too great. See the CDC’s recommendations here.
3) How exactly does the virus spread?
The virus spreads through inhalation of airborne particles from the urine, feces or saliva of rodents carrying the virus, which, in our part of the Southwest, is the deer mouse.
The CDC notes that common exposure can occur when breathing in contaminated air (such as while cleaning); touching objects that have become contaminated and then touching your nose or mouth; getting bitten or scratched by an infected mouse; or eating food that has become contaminated.
4) Can I get hantavirus from another person?
There is no evidence of human-to-human transmission with the kind of hantavirus found in the U.S. Andes virus, the most common cause of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) in South America, does appear to be transmissible in this way.
5) Is there any kind of prevention, such as a vaccine?
There is no vaccine available at this time, so the best prevention is being aware of your surroundings and taking the steps described above.
6) How common is hantavirus?
Antibody tests suggest that 2-10 percent of the general population have experienced asymptomatic hantavirus infection. However, New Mexico tops the list of known cases in the U.S. and Dr. Michelle Harkins at the University of New Mexico Department of Pulmonology is doing important hantavirus research. The state has recorded between one and seven hantavirus infections each year for the past five years. Between 1993 and 2022, there were 864 reported cases in the United States. New Mexico had the highest number over that time, at 122, followed by Colorado at 119. The state had a total of seven known cases in 2023 and 2024. In 2025, as of February 12, there has been one known fatality attributable to hantavirus.
7) If I have been exposed, how soon will I know?
You may not know for a while. Dr. Scott Roberts at the Yale School of Medicine notes that symptoms can take up to eight weeks to manifest after exposure; the general response time is one to eight weeks. Many individuals infected do not progress to hantavirus pulmonary syndrome so may truly experience the disease as if they had the flu; they may never know it was hantavirus unless they were tested.
8) What symptoms should I be looking out for?
A hantavirus infection typically starts with fatigue, fever and muscle aches – and may stop there. An infected person is at risk, however, if the infection develops into hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS), which affects the lungs. In these cases, the disease progression includes coughing, shortness of breath and tightness in the chest as the lungs fill with fluid.
9) If I start to feel sick, what do I do? How urgently do I need to make an appointment with my healthcare provider?
If you have a pulse oximeter at home, check to see if your oxygen saturation has fallen below 92. If so, call your provider immediately and seek care. Pulmonary illness can come on quickly.
If your oxygen saturation is above 92, but you feel sick, call your provider to schedule an appointment. Continue to monitor your oxygen saturation level.
10) What will my provider do to determine if I am sick with hantavirus?
Your provider will test your oxygen level, listen to your lungs, perform a lung ultrasound and possibly order a chest x-ray. If these tests are reassuring, no further investigation will be necessary.
If you start to develop pulmonary symptoms you may be admitted to the hospital for oxygen therapy, fluid replacement and possibly steroids. Specific testing for hantavirus may be initiated in the hospital to determine whether other treatments such as antibiotics should be discontinued but would not trigger any specific treatment.
[Sources]
US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
New Mexico Department of Health, Communicable Diseases Manual, Infectious Disease, Epidemiology Bureau, Hantavirus: https://www.nmhealth.org/publication/view/general/5072/
New York Academy of Sciences
[in] YaleToday, March 12, 2025, Bush, Evan. (March 7, 2025) HealthNews/NBC News, “What to know about the hantavirus, the disease that killed Betsy Arakawa”
Simons P, Guo Y, Bondu V, Tigert SL, Harkins M, Goodfellow S, Tompkins C, Chabot-Richards D, Yang XO, Bosc LG, Bradfute S, Lawrence DA, Buranda T. Longitudinal Assessment of Cytokine Expression and Plasminogen Activation in Hantavirus Cardiopulmonary Syndrome Reveals Immune Regulatory Dysfunction in End-Stage Disease. Viruses. 2021 Aug 12;13(8):1597. doi: 10.3390/v13081597. PMID: 34452463; PMCID: PMC8402847.
Goodfellow SM, Nofchissey RA, Schwalm KC, Cook JA, Dunnum JL, Guo Y, Ye C, Mertz GJ, Chandran K, Harkins M, Domman DB, Dinwiddie DL, Bradfute SB. Tracing Transmission of Sin Nombre Virus and Discovery of Infection in Multiple Rodent Species. J Virol. 2021 Nov 9;95(23):e0153421. doi: 10.1128/JVI.01534-21. Epub 2021 Sep 22. PMID: 34549977; PMCID: PMC8577387.
Mills JN, Johnson JM, Ksiazek TG, Ellis BA, Rollin PE, Yates TL, Mann MO, Johnson MR, Campbell ML, Miyashiro J, Patrick M, Zyzak M, Lavender D, Novak MG, Schmidt K, Peters CJ, Childs JE. 1998. A survey of hantavirus antibody in small-mammal populations in selected United States National Parks. Am J Trop Med Hyg 58:525–532. 10.4269/ajtmh.1998.58.525.
Comments