The only other survivor of this last year's Washington state hantavirus outbreak, Samantha King, from Issaquah, WA is interviewed by KIRO-7's Natasha Chen.
Samantha has displayed some really awesome toughness in coming back from this devastating illness. Many thanks to her for consenting to this interview and informing people about hanta.
A study at Vanderbilt University is investigating the antibodies, etc. in the blood of hantavirus survivors, and Samantha is participating in that study.
http://www.kiro7.com/news/local/issaquah-woman-describes-her-recovery-from-hantavirus/561096034
Sunday, July 16, 2017
Friday, July 7, 2017
A Sixth Hantavirus Case in WA in Last the Last Eight Months
...and again.
I regret to post that yet another hantavirus case, a fatality, has occurred in Washington state. The victim in Spokane, WA, was a man in his 50's and was believed to have been contracted hantavirus in Adams county, the first such case on record.
This brings the 2016 – 2017 Washington state hantavirus toll to six cases since November, 2016 (my wife), only an eight month span of time. The mortality rate is now back up to 50%, which is an indication that contrary to what has recently been claimed by health authorities, care procedures for hantavirus patients have not improved in any statistically significant way since the very early days after the Sin Nombre hantavirus was first recognized in 1993. (The first recognized hantavirus cases were usually fatal. When supportive care was implemented, the mortality rate dropped to around 40% where it remains.)
This has to be regarded as at least a small outbreak, not just a cluster of cases. This state is averaging a new hantavirus case every 40 days.
The surge in deer mouse population that occurred last fall is likely to have been accompanied by a surge in the incidence of hantavirus among that mouse population. If the hantavirus is more common among deer mice, this state may have gone through a long-lasting increase in risk of contracting this often deadly disease.
–Mark@hantasite.com
Links
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2017/jul/06/spokane-man-dies-from-hantavirus-after-likely-expo/
http://www.krem.com/news/local/spokane-county/spokane-co-man-dies-from-hantavirus-complications/454704432
I regret to post that yet another hantavirus case, a fatality, has occurred in Washington state. The victim in Spokane, WA, was a man in his 50's and was believed to have been contracted hantavirus in Adams county, the first such case on record.
This brings the 2016 – 2017 Washington state hantavirus toll to six cases since November, 2016 (my wife), only an eight month span of time. The mortality rate is now back up to 50%, which is an indication that contrary to what has recently been claimed by health authorities, care procedures for hantavirus patients have not improved in any statistically significant way since the very early days after the Sin Nombre hantavirus was first recognized in 1993. (The first recognized hantavirus cases were usually fatal. When supportive care was implemented, the mortality rate dropped to around 40% where it remains.)
This has to be regarded as at least a small outbreak, not just a cluster of cases. This state is averaging a new hantavirus case every 40 days.
The surge in deer mouse population that occurred last fall is likely to have been accompanied by a surge in the incidence of hantavirus among that mouse population. If the hantavirus is more common among deer mice, this state may have gone through a long-lasting increase in risk of contracting this often deadly disease.
–Mark@hantasite.com
Links
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2017/jul/06/spokane-man-dies-from-hantavirus-after-likely-expo/
http://www.krem.com/news/local/spokane-county/spokane-co-man-dies-from-hantavirus-complications/454704432
Saturday, July 1, 2017
A Fourth Case in Western Washington, 2016-2017 Hantavirus Cluster
A fourth hantavirus case in Western Washington since fall, 2016 has been reported in Skagit county. Details are not yet available, but the patient is said to have survived and recovered. My best wishes go out to them for a full recovery.
Skagit county includes extensive terrain that resembles the foothills, big leaf maple tree mixed forest regions that characterized all three of the previous hantavirus infections in Western Washington since last November, 2016.
I will attempt to confirm whether, as I predict, there are big leaf maple trees in the immediate vicinity of the home of this fourth hantavirus victim. If so, confirmation of that prediction substantially advances the linkage between these cases and a deer mouse population explosion resulting from a "bumper crop" of big leaf maple seeds in summer, 2016, which provided an essentially limitless food source.
(This makes five hantavirus cases total in Washington, including the case in Eastern WA.)
– Mark@hantasite
Links:
King5 preliminary coverage
Kiro7 preliminary coverage
Skagit county includes extensive terrain that resembles the foothills, big leaf maple tree mixed forest regions that characterized all three of the previous hantavirus infections in Western Washington since last November, 2016.
I will attempt to confirm whether, as I predict, there are big leaf maple trees in the immediate vicinity of the home of this fourth hantavirus victim. If so, confirmation of that prediction substantially advances the linkage between these cases and a deer mouse population explosion resulting from a "bumper crop" of big leaf maple seeds in summer, 2016, which provided an essentially limitless food source.
(This makes five hantavirus cases total in Washington, including the case in Eastern WA.)
– Mark@hantasite
Links:
King5 preliminary coverage
Kiro7 preliminary coverage
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)