Hantavirus Four Corners

About Hantavirus Four Corners

In May 1993, a cluster of unexplained deaths occurred in the Four Corners region of the southwestern United States where Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico meet. Young, previously healthy Navajo adults developed sudden respiratory failure. The CDC identified the cause as a previously unknown hantavirus, later named Sin Nombre virus. The virus is transmitted through inhalation of aerosolized deer mouse excreta. The 1993 El Nino had brought unusually heavy rains, increasing the pinon nut harvest and deer mouse population. By the end of 1993, dozens of cases had been identified in multiple states, roughly half of them fatal. Navajo elders recalled similar outbreaks in 1918 and 1933, linked to wet years. There is no specific treatment or vaccine for Sin Nombre hantavirus. The outbreak demonstrated how environmental changes could trigger emergence of zoonotic diseases. Several hundred hantavirus pulmonary syndrome cases have been reported in the US since 1993.