EL PASO, Texas — An airman who was training at Fort Bliss for deployment to Iraq died of a deadly virus linked to rodents, an Air Force official said Tuesday.
Senior Airman Leonard Hankerson Jr., 24, a security forces patrolman, died Feb. 11 at William Beaumont Army Hospital in El Paso. He was assigned to a squadron at Luke Air Force Base in Glendale, Ariz.
Autopsy results confirmed last week that Hankerson had hantavirus, said Lt. Col. John Paradis, a Luke Air Force Base spokesman. The disease is transmitted to humans when they inhale particles of dried urine, feces or saliva from an infected rodent.
He said it is unclear how or where Hankerson contracted hantavirus. Fort Bliss officials have started cleaning barracks and other locations where Hankerson spent time to help prevent any spread of the virus.
Source: San Jose Mercury News
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