CHANNEL ISLANDS CALLED SAFE FOR VISITORS.

Byline: Don Holland Staff Writer

Despite a hantavirus scare in June, officials say that Channel Islands National Park is safe for the 10,000 visitors expected to pay a visit this Labor Day weekend to the five-island preserve.

``We are continuing our normal hantavirus education, which includes notices on the islands, here at the visitors center and the postings at the marinas,'' park spokeswoman Carol Spears said.

In June, two Oxnard boys, who sailed to the park on a family outing, found a baby deer mouse carrying antibodies against the potentially deadly hantavirus.

Although the mouse did not have the disease, the incident prompted Rep. Elton Gallegly, R-Simi Valley, to call on parks officials to consider temporarily closing the park while boosting efforts to warn the public. Gallegly also called for a round of congressional hearings into the Parks Service's handling of the hantavirus.

But those hearings did little to calm Gallegly's fears about infected rodents on the islands, said the congressman's spokesman, Tom Pfeifer.

``I don't think it allayed his concerns at all,'' Pfeifer said. ``The question remains: Was the public being adequately notified of the problem?''

Parks officials' answer was a resounding ``Yes.''

The parks service has an extensive education program aimed at warning Channel Islands visitors to avoid contact with wild animals - including the seemingly harmless deer mice that can carry hantavirus.

In July, parks officials held a public meeting to collect input on how to better get the word out - but only one person showed up. Since then, officials have posted notices at marinas and yacht clubs advising boaters not to touch animals on the islands.

In the last few years, more than 100 people nationwide have died of hantavirus. Sixteen cases have been reported in California in the past two years.

The disease can be spread by airborne particles of dried feces or urine from infected mice. Humans can also contract the disease from direct contact with the blood or saliva of mice.

Flu-like symptoms develop about two weeks after exposure, but the disease progresses rapidly to breathing difficulties as the lungs fill with fluid.

Spears said there have been no reported cases of park visitors coming into contact with infected animals and that visitors have little to worry about.

Most of those who have died of hantavirus were exposed to contaminated dust particles while cleaning out garages, Spears said. The best solution, she said, is to use bleach to spray down mouse droppings before cleaning projects.