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" Yosemite is synonymous with stunning natural settings and a chance to get away from it all. But in the past few weeks, Yosemite has attracted unwanted attention after a Hantavirus outbreak in the park. So far, eight Yosemite visitors are confirmed to have contracted the virus, with three dead of Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome\u2014a variation of Hantavirus that&amp;#039;s not communicable between humans, but which can be transmitted to humans through contact with excrement, saliva, or urine from infected mice. The National Park Service, along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), are aggressively trying to contact people who recently visited Yosemite and could be at risk.  Authorities initially focussed on 91 tent cabins in a specific area of the park, which had approximately 10,000 visitors between June and August and is where most of the people who are known to have contracted the virus stayed. But after a man who visited a different area of the park at a higher elevation tested positive for the virus this week, the investigation was widened and another 12,000 people were added to the list of those at risk, upping the total to 22,000. Brian Amman is an ecologist with the CDC who studies virus outbreaks and has been working the phone hotlines talking to people who might have been exposed to the virus. Although only a tiny fraction of those people are likely to be infected, panic is inevitable. &amp;quot;You feel bad for a lot of them, because they&amp;#039;re scared, and rightfully so,&amp;quot; Amman says. The Syndrome The most common form of the hantavirus found in the U.S. is the Sin nombre virus, carried in deer mice, a small mouse with a range that stretches across much of the United States. Although the syndrome associated with the hantavirus is exceedingly rare in the U.S. (only about 600 cases have been documented here), it has a fatality rate of close to 40 percent.  Once a person becomes infected through contact with the urine, saliva, or feces of an infected mouse, the virus can incubate for up to 6 weeks before symptoms begin to appear. For the 22,000 people that are receiving warnings about it, this means the start of a waiting game, watching their bodies for fever, aches, and coughing.  Unfortunately, there is no way to test for the virus before the symptoms appear. &amp;quot;If you haven&amp;#039;t developed the fever yet, you haven&amp;#039;t gotten the antibodies yet,&amp;quot; Amman says. When infected with the virus, the human immune system reacts by mobilizing antibodies specifically designed to combat the new threat. Scientists can&amp;#039;t reliably identify the presence of the virus in the body. But they can run tests for the distinct antibodies called into action (usually accompanied by a fever).  For some people who contract the virus, the process leads to flu-like symptoms and a trip to the emergency room, followed by recovery. But for an unlucky few, the symptoms are just the start.  The illness occurs as the body&amp;#039;s immune system begins to attack the virus. In doing so, it can also attack the membranes within the lungs that separate the blood vessels from the alveoli, the tiny air sacs within the lungs that allow us to breathe. When the membranes start to leak, the liquid from the blood (but not the blood cells) seeps into the lungs, drowning the patient with fluid from his own body. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s the immune response to the virus that has a role in that leakage,&amp;quot; says Pierre Rollin of the CDC. There is no cure. But some people are able to recover because their body can fix the membrane, plugging the holes where the water leaks in. &amp;quot;The process is very fast,&amp;quot; Rollin says. &amp;quot;Its as though someone turned on and off a faucet in the lungs.&amp;quot;  Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome is alarming, but hantavirus illnesses vary based on location. In Europe and Asia, where they are much more common, variations of Hantavirus can cause Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome, a disease that can result in massive hemorrhaging and can be(though it&amp;#039;s rare) transmissible from person to person. It has a better recovery rate than HPS (15 percent instead of 40 percent) but is still dangerous, and occurs more frequently than HPS does in the United States.  The Spread Luckily for Americans, U.S. deer mice are not known to carry the forms of Hantavirus that cause the even deadlier syndrome. But scientists are still working to track how the virus spreads among mice in this country.  A group headed by Rick Douglass, a Hantavirus expert from the University of Montana, has been studying Hantavirus in mice populations for almost two decades. The researchers have found that mice transmit the disease among themselves through bites as well as by inhalation.  The CDC advises that if you come into contact with mouse droppings, you shouldn&amp;#039;t vacuum or sweep them up, which will just aerosolize the virus, but rather use a bleach solution or other disinfectant to wipe the waste up with a paper towel. Washing clothes or bedding in hot water is also effective.  &amp;quot;The main message is try to avoid being in contact with rodents,&amp;quot; Rollin says. &amp;quot;The disease, you can have it from New York to California\u2026Every time you look for this virus among the rodent population, you find it.&amp;quot; You might also be thinking about trying to rid your home of these disease-carrying rodents. But be very careful about it, Douglass says. Deer mice are territorial; just one or two might live in a home. But if you remove them, others will rush in to take over their territory.  &amp;quot;If you start trapping them, it&amp;#039;s like pulling a plug on a drain,&amp;quot; Douglass says. &amp;quot;Don&amp;#039;t trap them if you don&amp;#039;t mouse-proof [your home] first.&amp;quot; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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