California Mouse Tests Positive For 'Rare, Potentially Deadly' Virus

SAN DIEGO (CBSLA) — A California mouse tested positive earlier this month for the hantavirus, a rare and potentially deadly disease humans can contract from infected rodents.

The rodent was located in Santa Ysabel, an unincorporated area in eastern San Diego County, on Jan. 11, according to the County of San Diego, Environmental Health Department's website.

Officials say between 30-40 percent of people who catch the virus die. The virus is not transmitted from person to person, but occurs when "airborne virus particles from rodent droppings are inhaled," the website indicated.

MORE INFORMATION: WHAT IS THE HANTAVIRUS?

Officials cautioned that house mice do not carry the virus, rather rodents in rural areas.

Initial symptoms may appear up to six weeks after exposure. These include severe muscle aches, chills and fevers and headache or dizziness, among others.

Though is no known vaccine against the hantavirus, activities that increase one's risk of transmission include but aren't limited to hiking or camping in areas that are infected with rodents and carrying grain that could be polluted with rodent droppings.

For more information on how to guard against the hantavirus, click here.