Lane first received medical care on January 13, and doctors diagnosed her with the flu and released her the same day. But her symptoms got worse, and she was hospitalized for several days. After being released, she ended up having trouble walking on her own. On February 5, Lane tested positive for hantavirus and was airlifted from Farmington, New Mexico to a hospital in Albuquerque. The family told KRQE-TV that they don’t know how she contracted the virus.
She was hooked up to a ventilator immediately, and stayed connected the machine until her death, People reports. Lane died on April 18, surrounded by her family; a memorial service is scheduled for Saturday in Cedar Crest, New Mexico. As of January of this year, 728 cases of hantavirus have been reported since 1993, and the disease has a fatality rate of 38 percent.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people become infected with hantavirus through contact with rodents’ saliva, urine, droppings, usually by breathing in those particles in the air. The primary way to avoid hantavirus infection is through rodent control in and around your home, plus cleaning up after any pet rodents.
People with hantavirus can develop Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome, a severe, sometimes fatal respiratory disease. Early symptoms are similar to flu symptoms, including fever, fatigue, and muscle aches. But the late symptoms, which arrive four to 10 days later, include coughing, shortness of breath, and lungs filling with fluid. If you have been around rodents and have similar symptoms, the CDC urges you to alert your doctor immediately.
“Kiley’s story may be unique, and who knows why she or how she contracted it,” her mother told People. “But the important thing is people do need to know— if they think they’ve been exposed — to ask to be tested, because the doctors probably aren’t going to think of the virus just off the bat.”
A YouCaring fundraiser, designed to support the family’s expenses, has raised more than $48,000 as of Thursday morning. “Kiley’s family continues to want to build awareness about hantavirus and elevate the conversation around this serious illness,” the page reads. “The family is hopeful more research and funding will be directed toward finding a cure for and treating hantavirus.”
