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FILE: Deer mice\u00a0in a nesting box.<\/p>\n
Michael Siluk\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been nearly a year since\u00a0three people died<\/a> in Mammoth Lakes due to hantavirus, and the popular ski region is still taking precautions seriously.<\/p>\n Justin Caporusso, the Mono County public information officer, told SFGATE in a phone call last month that last year\u2019s fatal exposures to hantavirus\u00a0\u2014 which is spread in the Eastern Sierra through the droppings or saliva of infected deer mice \u2014 were \u201ca complete seasonal anomaly.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cIt mostly occurs in warmer months, so we often launch campaigns towards later spring,\u201d he said. \u201cSo when it was still winter, that kind of threw us off as well.\u201d<\/p>\n Three people died in the first few months of 2025 of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a rare disease caused by\u00a0hantavirus infection, including one 26-year-old Mammoth Mountain Ski Area employee, as SFGATE previously reported<\/a>. While there was never a definitive link found between the individuals, health officials found deer mice droppings in each of their workplaces.\u00a0<\/p>\n At the time of the deaths last year, Dr. Tom Boo, Mono County public health officer, explained that there was likely an increase in deer mice populations that year throughout the Eastern Sierra, which resulted in an increase in droppings. Mono County has had only 27 recorded cases of hantavirus since 1993.<\/p>\n Color-enhanced transmission electron micrograph\u00a0of hantavirus particles. Hantavirus is a respiratory disease carried in wild rodents such as deer mice.<\/p>\n Science Photo Libra\/Getty Images<\/p>\n \u201cIt was an unprecedented year and really quite scary even when it\u2019s a virus you\u2019re potentially familiar with or used to hearing about,\u201d\u00a0Caporusso told SFGATE, continuing: \u201cTo escalate to this level with local deaths, it was quite a big deal. I think that allowed for the opportunity for the county to step into action.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Make SFGATE a preferred source so your search results prioritize writing by actual people, not AI.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n In a release last April announcing Mono County\u2019s third death from hantavirus, the county health department said,<\/a> \u201cWe believe that deer mouse numbers are high this year in Mammoth.\u201d Officials encouraged people to close any holes larger than a pencil\u2019s width and to store food in mouse-proof containers. If people did encounter droppings in their homes, the department warned them to wear masks and gloves while cleaning up the droppings and specifically to not vacuum them, because doing so could aerosolize<\/a> the droppings and spread the particles through the air.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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