Genetically Mutant Frogs Mutated frogs have been turning up in a Minnesota wetland for over a year. Now they are turning up in other states including South Dakota and Vermont. This may be caused by enviromental changes such as pesticides, the depletion of the ozone layer, or parasites. Immune disease spread through the blood. Since 1993 - 150 cases have been reported.
Rodents carry it and spread it through their feces.
In 1997 a small epidemic broke out in rural Argentina. In the rugged countryside of New Mexico, scientists are capturing and counting deer mice and rats, prime carriers of the deadly hantavirus. Thanks to El Nino, the rodent population has exploded. And more mice means a higher risk for hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a disease that kills one of every two people who get it. El Nino, a weather pattern that brought a warm, wet winter to the Southwest, allowed more plant growth than usual.