The New Mexico Health Department today announced that a 64-year-old Taos County man has died from Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome, the state's first Hantavirus case this year, according to a news release.

"We extend our sympathy to this man's family and friends," Health Secretary Dr. Alfredo Vigil said in the release.

Hantavirus is a deadly disease transmitted by infected rodents through urine, droppings or saliva, and people can contract the disease by breathing in the aerosolized virus, the news release said.

Last year there were three cases of Hantavirus reported in Taos, San Miguel and McKinley counties, and one of those cases was fatal, the Health Department said.

Since Hantavirus was discovered in 1993 in the Four Corners area, there have been 77 cases, 32 of them fatal, in New Mexico. 

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