Oct 15, 2012 6:27 PM EDT
ELIZABETHTOWN, N.Y. -
It's a vacation to the Adirondacks that changed Michael Vaughan's life forever.
"I might not have made it," said Michael Vaughan.
While hiking near Mount Marcy, the 72-year-old from Long Island decided to rest for the night in a lean-to, despite hearing mice crawling around everywhere. "There was a little bit of blood under my finger nail and I was like, 'oh, a mouse must have bitten me,'" he said.
The researcher at Stony Brook University thought nothing of it until a month later. "I had nausea -- headaches from climbing the stairs," he said.
His doctors diagnosed him with Hantavirus, an infection that attacks the lungs. It is contracted by breathing in fumes from rodent droppings -- mainly mice. Vaughan spent four days in the intensive care unit.
"It does have a mortality rate of 35-percent of those who are infected," said Dr. Erich Mackow with Stoney Brook Medicine.
Vaughan has fully recovered. Meanwhile, the New York Health Department and the Center for Disease Control are now working to confirm the doctor's initial lab tests.
"This is nothing we have seen in the Adirondacks before," said Linda Beers, Essex County's Health Director.
Local health officials say there is no reason for local residents to be on high alert at this point, but they have added information about Hantavirus -- and how to prevent it -- on the county's web site.
"We are taking a look see, wait see attitude," Beers said. "We're not overly concerned at this point."
The state health department hopes to have the lab results back by the end of the week. http://www.wcax.com/story/19826439/suspected-hantavirus-case-in-adirondacks
"I might not have made it," said Michael Vaughan.
While hiking near Mount Marcy, the 72-year-old from Long Island decided to rest for the night in a lean-to, despite hearing mice crawling around everywhere. "There was a little bit of blood under my finger nail and I was like, 'oh, a mouse must have bitten me,'" he said.
The researcher at Stony Brook University thought nothing of it until a month later. "I had nausea -- headaches from climbing the stairs," he said.
His doctors diagnosed him with Hantavirus, an infection that attacks the lungs. It is contracted by breathing in fumes from rodent droppings -- mainly mice. Vaughan spent four days in the intensive care unit.
"It does have a mortality rate of 35-percent of those who are infected," said Dr. Erich Mackow with Stoney Brook Medicine.
Vaughan has fully recovered. Meanwhile, the New York Health Department and the Center for Disease Control are now working to confirm the doctor's initial lab tests.
"This is nothing we have seen in the Adirondacks before," said Linda Beers, Essex County's Health Director.
Local health officials say there is no reason for local residents to be on high alert at this point, but they have added information about Hantavirus -- and how to prevent it -- on the county's web site.
"We are taking a look see, wait see attitude," Beers said. "We're not overly concerned at this point."
The state health department hopes to have the lab results back by the end of the week. http://www.wcax.com/story/19826439/suspected-hantavirus-case-in-adirondacks
