A Dartmouth College employee has tested positive for hantavirus, a non-contagious but potentially fatal respiratory disease carried by rodents, the College announced Thursday.
The male employee is believed to have contracted the disease after a stay in a Dartmouth-owned cabin in the Second College Grant in late-August. If it is confirmed that the patient has hantavirus, it will be the first such case in New Hampshire, and one of the few confirmed cases in New England.
The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services has not provided Dartmouth with the man's name, according to Outdoor Programs director Andrew Harvard '71. Harvard declined to provide The Dartmouth with records detailing who stayed in the cabin during August.
The cabin where the patient stayed and two other cabins in the Hellgate area of the Grant have been closed for decontamination at the recommendation of the state's public health department and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The patient had reported seeing mouse droppings in the cabin and touching a blanket with droppings on it.
The cabin was in use when the suspected case of hantavirus was discovered, and the residents were relocated Wednesday to cabins south of the area.
Dartmouth officials are currently contacting the approximately 350 people who have stayed in the cabins since they opened in May. The cabins are primarily used by Dartmouth alumni, employees and their guests, and it has been determined that no students stayed at the cabins during the Dartmouth Outing Club freshman trips in early September.
The virus is spread when the droppings, urine and saliva of infected rodents are aerosolized and inhaled. The disease's primary carrier is the deer mouse, according to the CDC.
Harvard said the Outing Club attempts to control rodent populations in cabins with poison, but that it is difficult to keep mice out of cabins.
"As anyone with experience in the outdoors knows, the tug of war between cabin users and mice is constant in the outdoors," said Harvard.
He said the virus' appearance comes as no surprise, as the Outing Club has been tracking its development in the area for several years.
Symptoms of hantavirus, which first appeared in the southwest United States in 1993, generally appear approximately two weeks after contact with the virus and can include fever, chills and vomiting. Extreme cases of the virus can escalate into Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome, which may result in respiratory failure and death.
No cure, vaccine, or treatment for the disease currently exist, but early installation in an intensive care unit can alleviate respiratory distress caused by the disease, according to the CDC.
The next steps of the inquiry depend on the outcome of the CDC's investigation, said Harvard, but an assessment of other cabins in the Grant is expected and Dartmouth will continue to work closely with State and Federal Health Officials while monitoring the case.
"We want to respond very quickly to suggestions from the CDC and respond to needs of the Dartmouth community," said Harvard. "Paramount concern is that there is a new health risk in the area and want to manage it and control it."
Health officials say they don't expect an outbreak in New Hampshire.
"It's a rare disease in the United States, and this is the first time its been seen in the area," said Rachel Plotinsky, an epidemiologist for the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services. "I wouldn't imagine it's something we'll see too often."
