Anyone who now lives in the Southeast USA can contract this virus. The Phoenix area has had no rain for 130+ days.
This dry climate forces rodents that carry the virus, and hence, spread it through their droppings indoors where they go to seek water.
His case is only one of many.
Most Doctors and Hospital ER's really don't think of this virus at first. I'm told that there is a hospital in Albuquerque, NM that has experts for the treatment.
From the ABQ Journal:
New Mexico had one case reported last year, in a Los Alamos County man. In 2004, New Mexico had four cases, one each in McKinley, Bernalillo, Sandoval and Santa Fe counties.
Hantavirus was first recognized in 1993 in the Four Corners area where New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Utah meet. Since then, New Mexico has reported 66 cases, 27 of them fatal.
Nationwide, 416 cases have been reported in 30 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. About 36 percent of all reported cases have been fatal.