Hantavirus disease information and hanta-virus stories

Hantavirus disease information and hanta-virus stories A 30-year-old railroad worker has been identified as the first person in Nebraska to die from hantavirus, a rodent-borne disease.

Steve Harberts of Lyman died June 13 at Regional West Medical Center in Scottsbluff, said Dr. Thomas Safranek, state epidemiologist.

The death should not raise concerns over an outbreak, Safranek said. There is no evidence that the disease has ever been transmitted from one person to another.

Harberts' mother, Marilyn Harberts of Torrington, Wyo., said her son, who was single and an employee for the Union Pacific Railroad, developed a headache while camping in South Dakota with a brother.

He felt ill after a 12-hour workday at the South Morrill railyard June 11, she said. Two days later he called his mother and said he was having trouble breathing.

She took him to the hospital in Scottsbluff that morning and he died by 5 p.m., she said.