Overview

• A Grand Canyon concessions employee developed hantavirus pulmonary syndrome on June 20 after working in mule pens and has since been released from Flagstaff Medical Center to recover at home.
• The park’s Office of Public Health is working with Xanterino, Coconino County Health and Human Services and wildlife experts to clean contaminated mule-barn facilities without aerosolizing rodent particles.
• A bat collected at River Mile 143 along the Colorado River tested positive for rabies, prompting two people who handled it to receive post-exposure prophylaxis.
• Park officials are reinforcing visitor safety guidelines, advising guests to maintain distance from wildlife and use proper disinfection techniques in rodent-prone buildings.
• Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, which kills about 38% of U.S. cases without targeted treatment, and rabies, which is almost always fatal without prompt prophylaxis, highlight ongoing zoonotic risks at public lands.