{"id":249,"date":"2026-05-18T20:03:32","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T20:03:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/?p=249"},"modified":"2026-05-18T20:03:32","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T20:03:32","slug":"colorado-records-first-hantavirus-death-since-2024-its-not-from-the-cruise-ship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/?p=249","title":{"rendered":"Colorado records first hantavirus death since 2024. It\u2019s not from the cruise ship."},"content":{"rendered":"
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Colorado has recorded its first death from hantavirus since 2024, but the death does not appear to be tied to the outbreak associated with an ocean-crossing cruise ship that grabbed worldwide headlines.<\/p>

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Instead, the death appears to be linked to a much more mundane \u2014 and, in Colorado at least, significant \u2014 infection source: rodents.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment said Monday that an adult from Douglas County had died following a confirmed hantavirus infection.<\/p>\n

\u201cPreliminary evidence suggests the infection was acquired by local exposure to rodents,\u201d the spokesperson, Hope Shuler, wrote in an email. \u201cThe risk to the general public remains low and the investigation is ongoing.\u201d<\/p>\n

While hantavirus has gained new infamy across the globe in recent weeks, it is not new to Colorado. The state is a hantavirus hot spot and reported the second-highest number of hantavirus infections in humans in the U.S. from 1993 through 2023. Colorado\u2019s 121 cases, including 45 deaths, is behind only New Mexico, with 129 cases and 54 deaths.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But, crucially, hantavirus is not a single virus. It\u2019s a whole family of viruses, some with different characteristics than others.<\/p>\n

The Andes virus, which is responsible for the cruise ship outbreak that has sickened at least 11 people resulting in at least three deaths, can spread person-to-person. But, as its name suggests, it is primarily found in South America.<\/p>

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Colorado has the Sin Nombre version of hantavirus, which has not been shown to spread from person to person. The disease here is spread by rodents, primarily deer mice, which are found statewide. Contact with rodent droppings or urine is the most likely source of exposure.<\/p>\n

As a result, cases of hantavirus are fairly widely distributed in Colorado.<\/p>\n