California researchers and public health officials have launched what they describe as a groundbreaking series of studies of a rare mouse-borne virus that has infected at least nine Yosemite National Park visitors, killing three of them, since June.
By using the 1,200-square-mile (3,100-square-km) park and its rodent and human populations as a giant natural laboratory, scientists hope to gain new insights into how hantavirus is transmitted, how varied it might be and why certain people seem more susceptible than others.
The effort will include the first whole-genome sequencing for the hantavirus strain that struck Yosemite over the summer in the biggest cluster of cases since the disease was first identified in the United States in 1993.
View the original article here: Researchers plan whole-genome sequencing of hantavirus in public health study – MedCity News
