Officials are investigating a potential case of hantavirus, a rare but deadly disease that attacks the lungs, in an inmate at the San Quentin Rehabilitation Center in Marin County. <\/p>\n
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, which manages the state\u2019s prison system, \u201cis waiting for more lab test results for an inmate with symptoms,\u201d Kyle Buis, spokesperson for the California Correctional Health Care Services, told The Mercury News<\/a> on Thursday. <\/p>\n The Times reached out to the San Quentin Rehabilitation Center but did not receive a response before publication. <\/p>\n The prison is designed to hold more than 3,000 individuals and it currently houses low- and medium-security inmates, according to the CDCR. <\/p>\n Officials have decontaminated the facility\u2019s inmate housing as a precaution and medical staff are monitoring prisoners and staff for possible symptoms, The Mercury News reported.<\/p>\n Though hantavirus cases are rare, several have been making headlines of late.<\/p>\n Five California residents were exposed<\/a> to a strain of the hantavirus, known as Andes virus, that spread on a Dutch cruise ship and killed three people. <\/p>\n Typically, hantavirus spreads by inhaling particles contaminated with the urine, feces or saliva of wild rodents. <\/p>\n The Andes virus, that was spread on the cruise ship, is a strain of the hantavirus that\u2019s spread from human to human. <\/p>\n There have been 890 laboratory-confirmed cases of hantavirus disease reported in the United States since surveillance began in 1993, according to the most recent data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<\/a>.<\/p>\n The data suggest that contracting hantavirus is rare, said Dr. Afif El-Hasan, a member of the American Lung Assn.\u2019s national board of directors.<\/p>\n \u201cThat being said, it\u2019s probably underdiagnosed because the symptoms are a lot like the flu or other illness,\u201d El-Hasan said. \u201cAnd a lot of people may have passed away or had hantavirus, but it was never diagnosed.\u201d<\/p>\n There is no vaccine or specific antiviral medicine for hantavirus.<\/p>\n Intensive care treatment may include intubation and oxygen therapy, fluid replacement and use of medications to lower blood pressure, according to the American Lung Assn.<\/p>\n