Tests Confirm Id. Boy Died Of Hantavirus

COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho - The Pacific Northwest added a fourth hantavirus case to its health statistics last week when tests confirmed that a 14-year-old northern Idaho boy died of the rodent-borne illness in October.

Laboratory tests done at the University of New Mexico established the cause of death of Dyne Phillip of Coeur d'Alene. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were expected to confirm the diagnosis today.

It was Idaho's third case and second death. The other case, also a death, occurred in Montana.

Hantavirus, a respiratory disease that strikes with terrifying swiftness, so far has caused at least 50 people in 14 states to fall ill. In 30 of those cases, the victims died.

Scientists say the hantavirus is spread by deer mice, white-footed small rodents that are different from the ordinary house mouse. They think deer mice spread the virus in their contaminated urine, feces and saliva. The virus is not believed to spread from person to person.

"I wouldn't want people to think exposure is some sort of death sentence for anybody around a mouse," said Dr. Paul Stepak, epidemiologist for the Spokane County, Wash., Health District. "It's not that extreme."

Those who contract hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, as it's called by the Centers for Disease Control, often are young and healthy, and they die very quickly.