However, if the primary-care physician had done a complete patient history on the boy (something that is all too rarely done today with the time and financial constraints placed on even the most conscientious of doctors), the physician might well have connected the fact that the boy had recently been in contact with rodent droppings, a key source of infection from Hanta virus. Given that the boy and his father were both in contact with a potential source of Hanta virus at the same time and given that they are both exhibiting symptoms at the same time, the primary-care physician might have been a little more suspicious that something more than simple flu was responsible for the boys condition.
