Mice Tested For Hantavirus After Woman’S Death

North Central District Health Department officials sent a batch of Latah County deer mice to Boise on Thursday for hantavirus testing.

A Moscow woman, 43-year-old Joanne Storla, died from the disease last week.

The mice were sent via overnight mail and test results are expected by early next week, said Carole Moehrle, department director.

“We are doing the mice samplings in Latah County of places she had been to see if we can figure out where it might have come from,” Moehrle said.

The virus is carried in only about 10 percent of deer mice, which are indigenous to the region, she said. The department is also researching areas outside the region that Storla might have traveled to, Moehrle said.

Hantavirus is difficult to contract and documented cases are infrequent. Only 179 cases have been confirmed in the United States since 1993. In Idaho, there have been 13 cases since 1993, including a Kootenai County resident who contracted hantavirus pulmonary syndrome in January 1994.

The airborne virus is spread from rodents to people through mist from rodent urine and saliva or as dust from rodent feces. Breathing in the virus is the most common way of becoming infected, but people can contract the virus by touching their mouths or noses after handling infected material.

Storla’s initial cause of death was listed as adult respiratory distress syndrome. It is not known how long she had been infected with the hantavirus before her death May 9.

The initial symptoms are flu-like: fever, headache, stomach, joint and lower back pain, sometimes nausea. The main symptom is difficulty breathing, which may rapidly progress to acute respiratory distress.

To prevent contracting the disease, avoid contact with rodents, air out barns, cabins, trailers or other buildings before cleaning. Wear gloves and a filter mask when cleaning and avoid stirring up dust by using wet cleaning methods.

For more information, contact your local health department or medical professional.

HOW IT SPREADS The airborne virus is spread from rodents to people through mist from rodent urine and saliva or as dust from rodent feces.

Staff writer Andrea Vogt contributed to this report.