Army scientists and industry collaborators have successfully protected laboratory animals from lethal hantavirus disease using a novel approach that combines DNA vaccines and duck eggs.

The Natural Sciences Magazine publishes articles on popular topics in the biological sciences.

A little information can go a long way when it comes to understanding rodent-borne infectious disease, as shown by a new study led by scientist John Orrock of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and colleagues.

The risk of deadly hantavirus outbreaks in people can be predicted months ahead of time by using satellite images to monitor surges in vegetation that boost mouse populations, a University of Utah study says.

A Minnesota woman who died from hantavirus may have contracted the rodent-linked disease during a trip through the Grand Canyon, authorities said. The woman, whose name and hometown were not released, died June 12 at a hospital outside Arizona, said Trish Lees, a spokeswoman for the Coconino County, Ariz., Health Department. The woman, in her early 50s, may have contracted the disease during a family boating trip on the Colorado River in mid- to late-May, Lees told the Arizona Daily Sun, Flagstaff, in a story published Tuesday. It was the first hantavirus case linked to Arizona this year.