Sask. confirms hantavirus releated death

The deer mouse is a common rodent associated with carrying the hantavirus.

Saskatchewan has one confirmed death related to hantavirus, and health officials are investigating a second in the same health region.

The deceased was an adult male from the Heartland Health Region. Officials said they don’t believe the two cases are related.

Hantavirus can be fatal, but infections from the virus are rare. Infection is typically associated exposure to contaminated particles from infected rodents. People can be exposed when cleaning out cottages or sheds that were infested by rodents like deer mice. Rodent bites can also lead to infection if the skin is broken.

“Symptoms of hantavirus include fever, muscle aches, cough, headaches, nausea, and vomiting,” Saskatchewan’s Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Saqib Shahab said in a press release. “If a person develops a fever, coughing and shortness of breath within one to six weeks of exposure to mouse-infested areas, they need to seek immediate medical attention.”

The people most commonly exposed to the virus are farmers, cottagers, campers, grain handles and home owners, but the Ministry of Health noted that everyone can take precautions to reduce chances of infection. These simple steps include ventilating buildings before cleaning for 30 minutes, ensuring openings that could let rodents into a building are blocked, keeping food above ground, being aware of animal droppings in a building and taking steps to avoid exposure, including dampening areas that have rodent droppings with bleach.

Including this year’s case, there have been 24 cases of hantavirus and seven deaths reported in Saskatchewan since 1994.