Yosemite extends hantavirus warning; death toll rises

(Reuters) - Yosemite National Park broadened the scope of its health alert on the deadly mouse-borne hantavirus on Thursday as the death toll rose to three, warning roughly 12,000 additional visitors to a more remote area of the park about exposure risks.

U.S. officials had sounded a worldwide alert earlier this week, saying that up to 10,000 people were thought to be at risk of contracting hantavirus pulmonary syndrome after staying at the popular Curry Village camping area between June and August.

Yosemite spokesman Scott Gediman said the park was now expanding the warning to include another 12,000 people who stayed, or were still registered to stay, in the more remote High Sierra Camps, an area where visitors had not previously been considered to be at risk.

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