Yosemite virus: Britons who visited US national park could be at risk

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/sep/03/yosemite-virus-uk-warning

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The Health Protection Agency (HPA) is contacting Britons who may have visited Yosemite, the US national park at the centre of the outbreak of a virus that has killed two people. About 100 UK travellers have been identified as having stayed at the park between mid-June and the end of August.

The agency said it was not aware of any cases of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, which is carried by rodents, in Britons who had been there. As well as issuing a warning, it is providing health advice and information on the situation in the US.

Up to 10,000 people who stayed in cabins in the park's Curry Village may have been exposed to the disease.

California's department of public health confirmed that six people who visited the park have contracted the virus. Signs of the illness begin with flu-like symptoms which can take six weeks to incubate before rapid acute respiratory and organ failure.

More than 36% of people who contract the rare, severe respiratory disease die from it. It is spread by contact with infected rodents, primarily deer mice. Most people become infected by breathing in particles from urine or droppings that have been stirred up into the air.