by CHRISTINE ABRAHAM Photographer
Twenty-two thousand visitors have potentially been exposed to the hantavirus in Yosemite National Park. U.S officials estimate that upwards of 10,000 people may have this deadly disease.
The hantavirus is spread through droppings of urine or saliva from infected rodents, such as deer mice. Hantavirus can come in contact with people when breathing the particles in the air or coming in contact with an enclosed area that is infested by mice. Symptoms in humans can take one to six weeks to occur.
Early symptoms of the virus include vomiting, muscle aches, and fever. Serious symptoms might be fluid in lungs, decreased blood pressure, descreased efficiency of the heart, and coughing with secretions.
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