This Hantavirus Outbreak Has Been Brought to You by TLC's Hoarding: Buried Alive (UPDATED: False Alarm)
Hantavirus is back and bigger than ever: first the Yosemite outbreak, and now a new case on the set of a reality show filming in Texas.
One member of the cleaning team dispatched by TLC's Hoarding: Buried Alive — not to be confused with A&E's superior Hoarders — has contracted hantavirus. That means the other 29 helpers are at risk. Symptoms can take up to six weeks to develop, so it's still uncertain if anyone else is infected.
Of course, Hoarding isn't responsible for the possible hantavirus outbreak: that would be the dismal conditions of the house in question. Hantavirus is contracted from infected rodent feces and urine, which — as anyone who's watched a hoarding show will tell you — is kind of always all over the place in these cases.
Despite a rise in internet popularity thanks to these recent cases, hantavirus is still very rare. This is one of only "a few dozen cases" in Texas over the past 20 years, according to Dr. Mark Escott, medical director of the Montgomery County Health Department.
Regardless of the outcome, the hantavirus scare should make for an exciting episode of Hoarding: Buried Alive.
Oh, relax, you know TLC's already thinking about it.
UPDATE:
Well, the results are back and that woman who got hantavirus didn't get hantavirus after all. The original test was a false positive. However, you still shouldn't breathe in massive amounts of rodent feces and urine.
