USA: Danger of an epidemic - 10.000 people were in contact with the deadly virus?

The US federal Centers for Disease Control and Control has warned that 10.000 people may have come into contact with the deadly hantavirus while staying in Yosemite National Park in California this summer.

At least six cases of hantavirus, a rare disease transmitted through the saliva or urine of animals, especially mice, which causes a severe lung infection, have been reported.

Two infected people died.

Everyone had a shared stay in Kari Village, the gathering place for visitors to the spectacular Yosemite Park.

The National Park Service attempted to contact 2.900 people who booked a stay at the campground between June 10 and August 24.

The Yosemite National Park Service attempted to contact 2.900 people who made reservations at the campground between June 10 and August 24.

The disease center estimates that a total of 10.000 people have stayed there: 2.900 have booked accommodation and are joined by family members or friends.

"The tents were disinfected on August 24, and the visitors were relocated.

But people who stayed there between June 10 and August 24 are at risk of developing the virus within six weeks," the CDC reports.

Hantavirus is quite rare, but it is very dangerous - more than a third of cases end in death.

It manifests itself in the beginning with benign symptoms such as high body temperature, headache, stomach problems and cough, but it can soon become fatal.

There is no cure, and a quick response is essential to increase the patient's chances of survival.

Since the disease was discovered in 1993, about sixty cases have been diagnosed in California, and 587 in total in the US.

More than a third of the patients died.

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