Hantavirus test results negative for woman at Montgomery Co. home

  HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Health officials have revealed negative hantavirus test results for a woman who became sick while helping to clean out a trash-filled home in Montgomery County.

Three samples from individuals who were in the home, including the sick woman hospitalized, came back with negative results, according to Dr. Mark Escott, deputy local health authoritity for Montgomery County.

It was the news that family members and neighbors were hoping for. State tests came back negative for the woman who was thought to have contracted the hantavirus.

The home on Slash Pine Place where the ill woman had been working had been quarantined since last Friday. That quarantine was lifted late Monday afternoon.

Officials say the infected woman was part of a crew cleaning inside the garage of the home for the TLC show "Hoarders: Buried Alive" when she left and became ill. Officials say she exhibited symptoms of the virus then tested positive for the virus through a blood test at the local level.

Dr. Escott said that result was a 'false positive' and that state tests proved the woman, along with two others tested, did not have the hantavirus. The doctor said they still do not know what made the woman sick.

"The testing process is a bit unchartered territory and it's constantly being revised based on what we find out from situations like this. There's a reference range for the test, which below the range is negative and above the range is positive. We send that test, the confirmation to the state lab, or the reference lab, to determine if it's a 'true positive' or a 'false positive.' In this situation, that reference lab as come back as a false positive," Dr. Escott said.

We're told the state test is subtly different from the local test and that the test is more refined at the state level.

Health officials would not release the current condition of the hospitalized woman.

According to health officials, the hantavirus, which is not contagious, is contracted by breathing in dried urine and feces from infected rodents. However, health officials are urging neighbors to be aware of flu-like symptoms.

A hantavirus outbreak in Yosemite National Park killed three people, and as many as 22,000 people may have been exposed to the disease.

Eight people have gotten sick so far. Health officials believe visitors at the Curry Village tent camp and the High Sierra camps were exposed to the hantavirus. Curry Village has been closed as park officials deal with a rodent infestation.. But the High Sierra camps are still open.

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Montgomery Co. woman may have rodent-borne hantavirus

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A rodent borne disease responsible for three deaths in California could be behind the quarantine of a home in Montgomery County.

The home on Slash Pine Place is now off limits. While the county's medical director won't say this first positive test is alarming, he does say it's unusual and they're doing all they can to contain it.

The house was quarantined almost immediately after the Montgomery County Health Department was notified. A sheriff's deputy was posted outside to ensure no one else goes in, and neighbors were told be on alert.

"If there were rodents in this home that potentially had hantavirus, that means there are others in the community that are likely carrying the disease," said Dr. Mark Escott with the Montgomery County Health Department.

Hantavirus is not contagious and is contracted by breathing in dried urine and feces from infected rodents. We've learned the woman who tested positive is the daughter of the homeowner.

She and 29 other people were recently inside the home shooting an episode of the Discovery Channel's "Hoarding: Buried Alive."

Disrupting the mounds of old dusty materials inside could easily free the airborne virus.

Escott says right now the priority is keeping people out.

"The sole exposure risk is about being exposed to what's in the house, so if we can prevent folks from going into the house we can prevent further exposure to the disease, if in fact it's confirmed," Escott said.

A second test at the state level will determine whether the woman does in fact have hantavirus. She has been released from the hospital and is being treated with medication. The rest of the crew has been notified to look for symptoms, which resemble pneumonia or the flu.

Neighbor Jim Poilto says they did wear face masks during production but...

"With everything I've read online, that house was made to order for that kind of thing," Polito said.

Dr. Escott says others should just be on the look out for rodents

"The best way to prevent spread of the disease is to control the rodents in the home. If rodents are found in the home, then they need to make sure that they use folks who are licensed to clean homes," Escott said.

What makes this a little more complicated is that thousands of books from this home were donated to the Friends of the Houston Public Library. The folks there tell us they've been notified and they've accounted for all of those books are now secured.

Meanwhile, the results of the state test are expected to come out Monday.

We worked on this story with our Houston Community Newspaper partners. You can read more in The Courier of Montgomery County.

(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »

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