Discovery of Disease-Carrying Rodents Prompts County Health Advisory

RIVERSIDE - Confirmation that two deer mice collected near Hemet tested positive for the potentially deadly Hantavirus prompted Riverside County health officials today to remind residents to take precautions in places inhabited by rodents.

According to the Department of Environmental Health, two deer mice caught in December in Sage, a community southeast of Hemet, were confirmed as carriers of Hantavirus, which can lead to a severe and potentially fatal respiratory infection in humans called Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, or HPS.

County officials stopped short of issuing a health alert, saying...