Second Person Dies From Rare Disease, Yosemite Visitors Warned

Officials at Yosemite National Park are contacting some 1,700 people who stayed at Curry Village this summer after two people died from hantavirus, believed to contracted while they were at the park.

Hantavirus is a rare disease carried by mice. Humans can catch it when they inhale airborne rodent feces or urine. It is oftentimes a fatal viral infection.

Park officials said two people died of the virus and it is believed that they contracted it while staying in Curry Village tent cabins in mid-June. Two others are believed to have been infected around the same time but both are expected to survive.

Everyone who stayed in Curry Village from mid-June through the end of August is being contacted by the National Park Service. Park officials are currently in the process of sanitizing and sterilizing the entire area.

Most people infected with the virus suffer from flu-like symptoms at first. After a few days, the symptoms worsen, they have trouble breathing and often die. There is no cure or virus-specific treatment for hantavirus.

Anyone with questions about the disease at Yosemite National Park can contact the park service at (209) 372-0822.

Photo Credit: Urban, via Wikimedia Commons

It's simple. Keith Mizuguchi loves to write and write and write some more. After taking a hiatus from the journalism business, he has rekindled his passion for writing over the last two years, holding a job as both a web and on-air writer for San Francisco news radio station KCBS. While he enjoys the news business, his true passions are twofold: sports and food. Bay Area born and raised, he lives in San Jose, commutes to SF and loves every minute of it. You can follow his food adventures on Twitter @foodie_keith.