In 1993 a fatal outbreak of the hantavirus got attention nationally from the media, healthcare officials, and public. The 1993 outbreak infected 48 people, claiming 27 of their lives. The initial investigation discovered that the virus was identified as a respiratory illness. Upon further testing, the hantavirus was identified as the causative proprietor of this sudden life threatening illness.

In the years to come since 1993 -2011, nearly 600 cases of hantavirus have been reported in 34 different states, claiming well over 200 lives.

In the last 18 years, in the United States, an estimated 600 cases of the hantavirus have been documented by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The nearly 600 individual cases of the hantavirus resulted in 587 cases of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS), and on average 36.39% of the cases have been fatal.

These facts are sobering enough, but even the CDC states that these are just the reported incidences and hundreds of cases go unreported and misdiagnosed.