The Arizona Republic, 19 Feb. 1998: "A 28-year old Apache County, Arizona, woman has been stricken by the hantavirus respiratory ailment, the first case in Arizona since June 1996, health officials reported. The patient is recovering, the Department of Health Services said Tuesday. Nonetheless, officials called the case disturbing and said it might herald the possibility of a new outbreak if adequate precautions aren't taken.
[Apache County is located in east central Arizona, contiguous with the New Mexico state line. It is an area of broad, open expanses, streams, mountains, and what appears to be an abundance of excellent rodent habitat. This is not the first human infection from at area, so I am wondering why, if the newspaper report is correct, "officials" consider this particular case disturbing and a possible harbinger "of a new outbreak if adequate precautions aren't taken". What precautions? Is there something unusual about the epidmiology of this case? - Mod.CHC]"--Peter Petrisko <ptp@primenet.com> VIA ProMED-mail <promed@usa.healthnet.org>