90-Second Read: Public health officials address Hantavirus questions on 21st Show

Two local public health officials discussed how people can get exposed to Hantavirus and what protective measures are helpful on the 21st Show. The Illinois Department of Public Health said last week it was investigating someone in Winnebago County that was believed to have contracted Hantavirus. However, in an update, IDPH said Monday that the individual is "no longer considered a potential case of Hantavirus and no further public health action is needed" based on testing from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Hantavirus outbreak on a Dutch cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean was first documented last month.

IDPH also said in its latest statement that the risk of contracting Hantavirus remains very low for Illinoisans. Before that, in 1993, they did have a few cases of Hantavirus that was not really the Andes type. Join with thousands of others to keep this important public media-based resource available to all. Sixteen were taken to the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, and two others were taken to Emory University's regional pathogen Treatment Center in Atlanta, Georgia.

The situation has continued to escalate with three deaths linked to that outbreak. Countries from across the world have picked up their citizens and put them in quarantine. The first time it was really consolidated as a notifiable disease was in 1995. You don't want to sweep them or vacuum them, because that carries a risk of aerosolization if these are infected.