![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
|
Contact: Lee Siegel
leesiegel@ucomm.utah.edu
801-581-8993
University of Utah
Caption: A University of Utah researcher uses a toothbrush and a plastic bag to coat a wild deer mouse in pink fluorescent powder for a study that used microchip transmitters and five colors of powder to document how often and how long deer mice came into contact with other deer mice. The study revealed that bigger, older deer mice have most of the contacts with other mice -- spreading powder to other mice by fighting with or mating with them -- and thus are mostly likely to spread deadly hantavirus to other mice and ultimately to humans.
Credit: Denise Dearing, University of Utah.
Usage Restrictions: None
Related news release: Big, old mice spread hantavirus
|