Closed up rooms, cabins, warehouses Housecleaning activities Really stirring up dust Large populations of rodents Allowing rodents easy access to your home. To best prevent HPS risk factors must be identified. In order to identify risk factors, the method of transmission must be understood. The most common method of transmission is when the virus enters the body by breathing contaminated air. This happens when fresh urine, droppings, or contaminated nesting material are stirred up and the virus floats in the air.
Tiny droplets become airborne and then can be breathed in.
As well, a study by Engelthaler et al. , of HPS cases in the Four Corners Region of the USA found that cases were clustered seasonally and temporally by biome type and geographic location, and exposure sites were most often found in elevations of 1,800 m to 2,500 m. Anything activity or occupation that involves significant exposure to rodent droppings, urine or nesting materials can be considered a risk factor. These include such activities as opening up cabins and sheds or cleaning outbuildings that have been closed during the winter such as barns, garages or storage facilities for farm and construction equipment. Potentially o ccupationally acquired SNV infections have been recognized but are infrequent. Among documented U.S. cases of HPS, patients with potential occupational exposures have included grain farmers, an extension livestock specialist, field biologists, and agricultural, mill, construction, utility and feedlot workers.