County woman diagnosed with hantavirus

By Zsombor Peter
Staff Writer

GALLUP — A McKinley County woman diagnosed with the state's first hantavirus case of the year remains in critical condition at the University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque.

Dr. C. Mack Sewell, state epidemiologist for the New Mexico Department of Health, said the woman was sent to Albuquerque by a McKinley County-area hospital. UNM Hospital spokesman Sam Giammo said she arrived Sunday. Her condition was confirmed Tuesday.

Neither the hospital nor the Health Department would release the patient's name or hometown.

The Health Department would only say that the patient was an adult.

Although February is a little early for the year's first case of the potentially deadly hantavirus, it's not unprecedented.

"Though we tend to see more cases of hantavirus during the summer months, we have had cases every month of the year, including winter months when mice try to get inside our homes for food and shelter," said Dr. Paul Ettestad, the Health Department's public health veterinarian, according to a department news release.

While the time of year may be unusual, the home county of the year's first victim is not.

Since the virus was first identified in 1993, McKinley County has by far suffered more cases 32 according to the Health Department than any other county in the state. The county with the second most cases, San Juan, has reported eight. Cibola County ranks third with six cases since 1993.

A number of factors probably contribute the virus's concentration in the northwest corner of the state, Sewell said, where it was discovered.

The fact that the three counties are among New Mexico's most socioeconomically depressed probably has at least something to do with it.

"To an extent, the hantavirus is a disease of poverty," Sewell said.

He believes the predominantly rural conditions factor in as well. The prevalence of deer mice whose urine, dropping and saliva carry the virus in the area and rural homes with plenty of holes for them to move in and out of can make for a dangerous combination, according to Sewell.

Although the virus is still relatively rare across the United States, it can be deadly. Of the reported 416 cases since 1993, approximately 36 percent have lead to death, according to the state Health Department. Of the 66 cases in New Mexico, the virus has killed 27.

And while the virus does not move from human to human, and does not kill the rodents that carry it, it moves from their urine, droppings and saliva to humans by becoming airborne.

The early symptoms, which develop in first one to six weeks of exposure, include fever, aching muscles, chills, headaches, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pains and coughing.