FILE - Housekeeper Albert Gomez, sprays the floors of a tent cabin with a bleach mixture to prevent the possible spread of viruses in Curry Village at Yosemite National Park on Tuesday August 28, 2012. Two more Yosemite National Park visitors have been found with a mouse-borne virus blamed for the deaths of two people, bringing the total number of infections to six, state health officials said. (AP Photo/San Francisco Chronicle, Michael Macor) NORTHERN CALIFORNIA MANDATORY CREDIT PHOTOG & CHRONICLE; MAGS OUT; NO SALES
FILE - Housekeeper Albert Gomez, sprays the floors of a tent cabin with a bleach mixture to prevent the possible spread of viruses in Curry Village at Yosemite National Park on Tuesday August 28, 2012. Two more Yosemite National Park visitors have been found with a mouse-borne virus blamed for the deaths of two people, bringing the total number of infections to six, state health officials said. (AP Photo/San Francisco Chronicle, Michael Macor) NORTHERN CALIFORNIA MANDATORY CREDIT PHOTOG & CHRONICLE; MAGS OUT; NO SALES
In this undated photo provided by DNC Parks and Resorts at Yosemite, Inc., are tent cabins in the fall at Yosemite National Park in California. Yosemite officials are expanding their efforts notify visitors to a complex of tent cabins who may have been exposed to a rare but potentially deadly rodent-carried virus. Officials said Wednesday they have notified 2,900 visitors who stayed in the Curry Village "Signature Cabins" since mid-May, up from 1,700 initially notified. (AP Photo/DNC Parks and Resorts at Yosemite, Inc.)
FILE - In a Tuesday Aug. 28, 2012 photo, Glenn Dean, a National Parks Occupational Safety and Health Specialist, inspects tent cabins for mice entry points at Curry Village at Yosemite National Park. Two more Yosemite National Park visitors have been found with a mouse-borne virus blamed for the deaths of two people, bringing the total number of infections to six, state health officials said. (AP Photo/San Francisco Chronicle, Michael Macor) NORTHERN CALIFORNIA MANDATORY CREDIT PHOTOG & CHRONICLE; MAGS OUT; NO SALES
In this undated photo provided by DNC Parks and Resorts at Yosemite, Inc., is the interior of a signature tent cabin at Yosemite National Park in California. Yosemite officials are expanding their efforts notify visitors to a complex of tent cabins who may have been exposed to a rare but potentially deadly rodent-carried virus. Officials said Wednesday they have notified 2,900 visitors who stayed in the Curry Village "Signature Cabins" since mid-May, up from 1,700 initially notified. (AP Photo/DNC Parks and Resorts at Yosemite, Inc.)
FILE -- In this file photo from Sunday Oct. 23, 2011, tents are seen in Curry Village in Yosemite National Park, Calif. On Monday, Aug. 27, 2012, Yosemite officials announced a second person had died of a rare, rodent-borne disease after staying in one of Yosemite National Park's most popular lodging areas, prompting federal officials to step up efforts to locate and warn recent visitors. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) ? At least six rangers staffed phones this week at Yosemite National Park as visitors frightened about a growing outbreak of a deadly mouse-borne virus flooded lines seeking answers.
More than 1,000 calls a day are coming into the park, many from visitors wondering if they're in danger of contracting or being exposed to hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, park spokesman Scott Gediman said.
"We're reaching out and they are reaching out to us and we are trying in every way shape and form to be transparent and forthright," Gediman said. "We want to tell people this is what we know. The most important thing is the safety of park visitors and employees."
On Thursday the California Department of Public Health confirmed that a total of six people have contracted the disease at Yosemite, up from four suspected cases earlier in the week. Two of those people have died from the illness that can cause acute respiratory and organ failure.
As the busy Labor Day weekend launches, some guests also are cancelling lodging reservations at the park. But Gediman says others on waiting lists for hard-to-get accommodations are snapping them up.
All six people who have contracted hantavirus stayed in "Signature" tent cabins in the park's historic Curry Village in Yosemite Valley, state health officials confirmed Friday. They were there between mid-June and early July.
The infections spurred park officials to close 91 of the Signature cabins.
Park officials said the double-walled design of those particular cabins made it easy for mice to nest between the walls. The disease is carried in the feces, urine and saliva of deer mice and other rodents.
The illness begins as flu-like symptoms but can quickly affect the lungs. It can take up to six weeks to incubate.
Warnings have gone out to visitors who stayed in Curry Village in June, July or August.
The hantavirus outbreak occurred despite park officials' efforts in April to step up protections.
A 2010 report from the state health department warned park officials that rodent inspection efforts should be increased after a visitor to the Tuolumne Meadows area of the park fell ill.
The report revealed 18 percent of mice trapped for testing at various locations around the park were positive for hantavirus.
"Inspections for rodent infestations and appropriate exclusion efforts, particularly for buildings where people sleep, should be enhanced," it said.
The park's new hantavirus policy, enacted April 25, was designed to provide a safe place, "free from recognized hazards that may cause serious physical harm or death."
In 2009, the park installed the 91 new, higher-end cabins to replace some that had been closed or damaged after parts of Curry Village, which sits below the 3,000-foot Glacier Point promontory, were determined to be in a rock-fall hazard zone.
The deer mice most prone to carrying the virus can squeeze through holes just one-quarter-inch in diameter. They are distinguished from solid-colored house mice by their white bellies and gray and brown bodies.
The park has sent warning emails and letters to almost 3,000 people who stayed in tent cabins telling them they might have been exposed. The warning says anyone with flu-like symptoms or respiratory problems should seek immediate medical attention.
In 2011, half of the 24 U.S. hantavirus cases ended in death. But since 1993, when the virus first was identified, the average death rate is 36 percent, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
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Dearen reported from San Francisco.
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