SANTIAGO, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- Chile registered nine deaths of the rodent-spread hantavirus in 2009, local health authorities said on Monday.

    The country reported a total of 31 cases of hantavirus last year, according to the Epidemiology Department of the Chilean Health Ministry. The latest case was reported last Thursday, a 44-year-old peasant in the central Maule Region. He is in stable condition, the ministry said.

    Chile launched a campaign last November to eradicate the hantavirus in bus stations across the country. It was believed that tourists who went on vacation in rural areas were the major carriers of the virus, which can cause a rare but potentially fatal flu-like pulmonary syndrome.

    People infected with the virus may develop symptoms of fever over 38.3 degrees Celsius, headaches and gastrointestinal dysfunction.

    Chile confirmed its first hantavirus case in the Metropolitan Region last November. The patient was a 20-year-old female in Lampa. She is now out of danger.

    The Epidemiology Department reported 43 hantavirus cases across Chile in 2008.

    The department suggested residents "keep alert" against the disease during the ongoing hantavirus high season.

    It also called for timely hospitalization and appropriate medical treatment in the high-risk zones.

    One way to prevent infection with the virus is that people who travel to rural areas must open the doors and windows of a house 30 minutes before entering it, the department said in a statement.     

    The statement gave other tips including keeping the floor clean and keeping rodents from entering a house.