Mice Trapped in Newport Test Positive for Hantavirus : Health: County officials post warnings, tell public to avoid contact with rodents, droppings. No one has contracted the deadly disease in Orange County.

Three of eight mice trapped here last week have tested positive for the hantavirus, prompting Orange County vector control officials to reissue a warning to the public.

“We’re not trying to panic people,” said James P. Webb Jr., a vector control ecologist. “But people can’t let their guard down. Once you go into nature, you have to be on the defensive--whether it’s from mountain lions, coyotes, rattlesnakes--and now you have to add deer mice to the list.”

So far, no one has contracted the deadly hantavirus in Orange County, which first was discovered in the county in deer mice in September, 1993, in a San Clemente canyon.

Last year, the hantavirus killed 42 people in 18 states, mostly in the Four Cornersarea of the Southwest. Two fatalities were reported in California.

The recent Orange County discovery came after eight deer mice were trapped April 25 near Pelican Hill Road and Newport Coast Road. Webb said that three of them tested positive, based on blood tests for hantavirus.

The hantavirus attacks the lungs resulting in adult respiratory distress syndrome.

An Orange County health care official said there is no high level of danger from the new discovery.

“We have not had any cases (in people) in Orange County,” said Dr. Hildy Meyers, a county epidemiologist. “Although there have been eight or nine cases in California, not all . . . were contracted in the state. Even though we have been pretty intensively looking for (the hantavirus), it seems like the incidence is very low.”

The county’s message, Meyers said, is that “all rodents can carry diseases and it’s best for people to avoid contact.”

The deer mouse is found throughout North America and in every California county. Infected rodents shed live virus in saliva, feces and urine. Humans are infected when they encounter and inhale microscopic particles containing dried urine or feces. Insect bites are not believed to play a role in hantavirus transmission.

Fortunately, ultraviolet light quickly deactivates the virus outdoors, Webb said.

“The danger is having deer mice take up residence in your house, shed or garage,” he said, “because if people kick up the dust from the fecal matter, they can breathe it.”

What’s troubling about the recent finding, Webb said, is that heavy rainfall has resulted in greater hillside vegetation and an increase in the rodent population.

“We’re just getting larger numbers of deer mice with the increased rain,” Webb said. “Usually, you see mice populations increase a year after heavy rains, kind of more staggered.”

Webb said warnings have already been posted in public activity areas including El Morro Elementary School and Crystal Cove State Park. Webb said that tests of rodents trapped on the school grounds in recent months were all negative.

However, Jack Roggenbuck, district superintendent for state parks and beaches in San Clemente, said the vector control district did not notify the state about the new discovery.

“My surprise is that there’s a new capture,” Roggenbuck said, “and that they have some additional data and they have not informed us at the district office.”

The 3,200-acre Crystal Cove park is open to the public for beach recreation on the west side of Pacific Coast Highway, Roggenbuck said. Fortunately, most of the park is inland, he said, and that area remains closed because of heavy flood damage.

* THE SKUNKS ARE COMING

Huntington Beach officials set aside $10,000 to remove furry invaders. B16