New Mexico's health department is cautioning the public to be careful when cleaning this summer after a 42-year-old woman in McKinley County died from hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a severe respiratory disease often linked to infected deer mice.

The woman's death marks the second case of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome and first death associated with it in the state in 2019, the department reported.

“We urge New Mexicans to be mindful when they are opening up sheds, cabins and other buildings that have been closed up as mice and other rodents may have moved in,” New Mexico Department of Health Secretary Kathy Kunkel said in a statement. “Stirring up dust in areas where rodents hang out – that includes everything from nests to droppings – can cause the virus to get into the air where the particles can be breathed in. It’s best to air out cabins and sheds before entering them and wet down droppings with a disinfectant.”

Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome is caused by a hantavirus infection. Hantaviruses are found in the urine, droppings or saliva of infected rodents, and can be transmitted to humans who breathe in air containing the virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Early symptoms of a hantavirus infection can develop within one to six weeks after exposure, and include fever and muscle aches; headache; nausea; vomiting; diarrhea and abdominal pain; and a cough that "rapidly progresses to respiratory distress," according to the New Mexico Department of Health.

No human-to-human hantavirus illnesses have occurred in the United States, and rodent infestation in and around the home remains the primary risk of exposure, the CDC reports.

The death in New Mexico comes a month after officials reported another woman in McKinley County had been sickened with hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. Though the condition is fatal in about 40% of cases and there is no specific treatment for it, she survived, according to the health department.

There were five cases of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome in New Mexico in 2017 and zero in 2018, the health department said.