HANTA VIRUS: Spring cleaning might bring on this sometimes deadly disease, which was found in just four states in 1998 and has now spread to 26. Some of the 28 cases confirmed in 1995, and the 20-plus expected to be confirmed for 1996, have been linked with people cleaning up mouse messes left in their attics and summer cabins.
PLAGUE: Yes, new buds mean the Black Death is among us, especially in New Mexico, where about 80 percent of these rare outbreaks occur. Plague circulates in prairie-dog and squirrel colonies and spreads via fleas to humans. In 1996 there were only five cases, but two of those people died. This year the number of cases is expected to rise to about 15.
COLORADO TICK FEVER: Luckily, spring mud discourages hikers, or far more than the standard 50 or so people would suffer this disease’s flulike symptoms each year. Still, spring is the peak time when ticks above 5,000 feet infect people in the Rockies, Black Hills and Sierra Nevada.
