<blockquote> “Truly frightening diseases such as Ebola, mad-cow disease, the Hong Kong “bird flu,” and others emanating from the animal kingdom are becoming more prevalent.  I now understand how the animals will precipitate the potential deaths of a quarter of our world’s population.  The devastation on the earth as the result of the horrible famines, pestilences, and wild beasts of Revelation are extremely plausible, not in some science fiction fantasy, but here and now.”
<p style="text-align: right;">-Jim Bakker in “Prosperity and the Coming Apocalypse”</p>
</blockquote>

Almost a quarter-million people are now being warned about exposure to the potentially deadly hantavirus.

The mouse-borne disease is known to have now infected nine people, killing three of them. Over 230,000 people have now been sent notices from the Yosemite Park Rangers warning them of exposure and encouraging them to seek tests from their doctors. Detecting the virus through blood tests early increases a victim’s chance of survival.

The disease can take up to six weeks to show symptoms in an infected person causing the potential threat totals to be slowly increased. The outbreak was initially believed to be contained to guests at the Signature cabins in Curry Village but now one victim is reported to have stayed at the High Sierra camps in wilderness areas.

The latest victim reportedly visited the park in July, according to the National Park Service.

The initial reports and warnings were issued to 1,700 people and have been expanding as the reports of the cases spread throughout the country. One of the dead was a 37-year-old man in the San Francisco Bay area.

The National Park Service is now trapping and killing deer mice who are believed to be spreading the infection.