Bodie State Park worker contracts hantavirus
By Cathie Anderson, Sacramento Bee
Citrus Heights resident Curtis Fry, whose son contracted hantavirus at Bodie State Historic Park, said the California Department of Parks and Recreation is putting employees at risk by failing to provide adequate training or housing at the popular Mono County ghost town.
“It’s just the Wild West out there,” Fry said. “This is the 21st century. They’re just letting these people risk their lives.”
His son Spencer was living and working at Bodie as a park aide in July when he came down with the rare and often-fatal lung infection. Spencer Fry spent 13 days in intensive care at Kaiser Permanente Roseville Medical Center. He permanently lost hearing in his left ear and cannot walk normally because of partial paralysis in his legs and feet, his father said.
The wettest year ever in the Sierra left every stream-zone in the Tahoe Basin completely flooded during the peak snow-melt period. This in turn ran large numbers of deer mice, the primary vector/host of Hantavirus, out of their burrows and into many homes bordering or in close proximity to the stream-zones. For those that are experiencing deer mice infestations here is a link to some excellent info and resources provided by the CA Dept of Public Health. https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/HantaToolkit.aspx#