Rare virus linked to deaths in California
Updated 8:31 PM ET August 3, 2000
By Sarah Tippit
LOS ANGELES, (Reuters) - California health officials said Thursday they have
linked three recent unexplained deaths to a rare virus, normally carried by
rodents, that has almost never before infected humans in North America.
The so-called "arenavirus" causes a rare, but often fatal respiratory
disease, and is transmitted to humans through inhalation of dust contaminated
with the urine, feces or saliva of infected rodents.
Variations of the virus are often seen in human populations in Africa and
South America, scientists said. Arenavirus has also been documented recently
in rodents in Southern California.
However never had it been seen in humans anywhere in the United States,
"except among overseas travelers and laboratory workers exposed accidentally
while doing research," California Health Director Diana Bonita said in a
statement.
The virus was detected through genetic testing in three Southern California
women who died in the last 14 months. Among the victims were a 30-year-old
who died last month in Orange County, a 14-year-old who died in April in
Alameda County, and a 52-year-old who died in June 1999 in Riverside County.
Each had been hospitalized with fever and respiratory distress. Two of the
women also had severe liver disease and bleeding. Initially their cause of
death was unexplained.
There is no evidence the cases are related, and human infection with
arenavirus is expected to be uncommon in the United States, health officials
said. The 52-year-old woman had had a history of contact with rodents,
officials said.
The drug ribavirin has been used to treat other arenavirus infections, health
officials said. Research is ongoing to find other effective treatments, they
said.
In order to avoid the virus, people are encouraged not to touch or feed wild
rodents or any wild animals, to properly dispose of and contain trash, to
avoid camping near rodent droppings, burrows or nests, and to avoid creating
dust when cleaning rodent-infested areas by first wetting the areas with
bleach.
Last month world health officials meeting in Atlanta at the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control warned of the threat of emerging diseases -- potentially
lethal outbreaks triggered by travelers, animals, bioterrorists, or
unexpected changes in the diseases themselves.
Among other emerging diseases being tracked are Lyme disease, hantavirus, and
West Nile virus, which killed seven people and sickened 62 others in New York
late last summer.
The West Nile virus, which causes brain inflammation, has been found in birds
and mosquitoes in New York, Connecticut and New Jersey. Researchers are
unsure how it migrated to the Western Hemisphere.
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