British holidaymakers at risk after deadly virus outbreak

British holidaymakers who visited the US over the summer are being contacted by the Health Protection Agency following the outbreak of a deadly virus in Yosemite National Park which has killed two people and infected six.


Around 100 UK travellers have been identified as having stayed at Yosemite between mid-June and the end of August.


The agency said it was not aware of any cases of Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS) - which is carried by rodents - in Britons who had been there on holiday.


But it is warning people who had stayed at the park and also providing health advice and information on the situation in the US, reports the BBC.


A total of up to 10,000 people who stayed in the lodging cabins in the park's Curry Village may have been exposed to the potentially fatal disease.


Signs of the illness begin with flu-like symptoms which can take six weeks to incubate before rapid acute respiratory and organ failure.


Most people become infected by breathing in small viral particles from rodent urine or droppings that have been stirred up into the air.


More information on Hantavirus can be found on the HPA website.


 


By Gretchen Kelly and Diane Evans

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

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