A 10-fold increase in deer mice at some Montana trapping sites is prompting two Montana State University experts to suggest extra caution this year.
Deer mice carry hantavirus.
Though hantavirus disease in people is not common in Montana, it is serious, says Jim Knight, MSU Extension wildlife specialist. About one-third of cases nationally have been fatal. Montana has had five cases of which two have been fatal. Bond, of MSU's Microbiology Department, tests mice caught at Montana sites to determine if the rodents have been infected by hantavirus. Trapping is done at Cascade , Wisdom , Gold Creek , Polson , Cutbank and CMR National Wildlife Refuge .