A Denver resident has been diagnosed with hantavirus, a rare but potentially fatal respiratory disease that has been diagnosed in the city only one other time since 1993.

The disease is typically only found in rural and suburban areas but this individual contracted the virus in Denver, said Kerra Jones, spokeswoman for Denver’s Department of Public Health and Environment.

Hantavirus cannot be spread from human to human or from pets to humans. Instead, the virus is found in the urine, saliva and droppings of infected deer mice. Investigators did not find evidence of rodents when they inspecting the individual’s residence near East Colfax Avenue and High Street so are unsure where the disease was contracted, Jones said.

The individual has not left the county, though, so investigators know it was picked up somewhere in Denver, Jones said.

In 1993, the first time the hantavirus was diagnosed in Denver and when the city and county started tracking the disease, the person who contracted the virus had previously visited the Four Corners region, Jones said.

“It’s a really really rare thing for this to happen,” she said.

People more commonly contract hantavirus while cleaning their homes and yards in the spring and summer, according to the health department. Humans become infected when breathing in the virus after stirring up dust from mouse nests or mouse droppings in areas with poor ventilation. They can also contract it by handling or being bitten by the mouse.

A common house mouse does not transmit hantavirus. Deer mice can be identified by their large ears and white undersides.

Symptoms — fever, chills, headaches and severe pain in the legs and back — usually appear one to two weeks after exposure but it can take as along as eight weeks to develop, according to the health department. If you believe you or a family member have been exposed, contact a physician immediately.

Here is how the health department advises people to protect themselves from the virus: