NEW MEXICO DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH CONFIRMS FIRST DEATH OF HPS IN 2019

MCKINLEY COUNTY (KSMX)- The New Mexico Department of Health (NMDOH) reported the death of a 42-year-old McKinley County woman from Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS). This is the second case of HPS confirmed in New Mexico in 2019 and the first death.

The NMDOH has completed an environmental investigation at the woman’s home to help reduce further risk to others. Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome is a severe, respiratory disease in humans that is fatal in approximately 40 percent of cases. Here in New Mexico, the deer mouse is the main carrier for Sin Nombre virus, the hantavirus strain, that can be transmitted by infected rodents through urine, droppings or saliva that contain the microscopic virus. People can contract the disease when they breathe in virus that is suspended in the air, but it is not contagious from one person to another.