State health officials confirm Montana’s first hantavirus infection of the year recently sickened a Richland County resident.
The adult male fell ill working out of state where he faced an occupational exposure to mice. He was hospitalized but now recovering at home.
Credit Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services
Infected rodents carry hantavirus and release it in their droppings, urine or saliva, which can then be transmitted to people breathing in that contaminated air.
State epidemiologist Erika Baldry says the best way to prevent hantavirus infection is to control rodent populations. Seal up holes inside and outside the home to keep rodents out. You want to trap rodents around the home to help reduce the population and you want to clean up any food that s easy to get to.