DENVER—Three Coloradans have died this week from hantavirus, raising the death toll to four this year and tying a record set in 1993, health officials said Tuesday.
The latest deaths happened in Custer, Costilla and Park counties, according to the Colorado Department of Public health and Environment. The fourth death was in Alamosa in May. Two others who contracted the disease have since recovered.
Since record keeping began in 1993, there have been 61 documented cases of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, with 23 fatalities.
“This is not a virus you want to get,” said John Pape, an epidemiologist specializing in animal-related diseases for the CDPHE.
Hantavirus spreads through deer mice urine and feces mixed in with dirt or dust that is inhaled. Pape said the virus strikes mostly in rural areas, where the brown-back, white-bellied mice with large ears live.
Many infected with hantavirus have been working in cabins, sheds, and barns.
Symptoms usually begin two to three weeks after exposure and include vomiting, high fever, and flu-like body aches. Within days, the lungs fill with fluid, causing shortness of breath and difficulty breathing.
