CDC: Hantavirus Risk to General Public Remains Low

In the ongoing human negotiation between civilization and the natural world, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has offered a measured reassurance: hantavirus, a rodent-borne illness that periodically stirs public anxiety, poses a low risk to the general American population. The virus, which travels not between people but through contact with infected rodents and their traces, remains a concern primarily for those whose lives or livelihoods bring them into close proximity with these animals. Federal health authorities continue their quiet, steady work of surveillance — watching, tr