# Terry Yates > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Terry_Yates > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Terry_Yates.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Yates > Source revision: 1356685179 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) **Terry Lamon Yates** (March 17, 1950 – December 11, 2007) was an American [biologist](/source/Biologist) and [academic](/source/Academic_staff) who is credited with discovering the source of the [hantavirus](/source/Hantavirus) in the [American Southwest](/source/American_Southwest) in 1993.[1] Yates' specialty as a biologist was the study of [rodents](/source/Rodents) and other small mammals.[1] ## Early life Terry Yates was born in [Mayfield, Kentucky](/source/Mayfield,_Kentucky).[1] He earned his [bachelor's degree](/source/Bachelor's_degree) from [Murray State University](/source/Murray_State_University) before completing his [master's degree](/source/Master's_degree) in [biology](/source/Biology) from [Texas A&M](/source/Texas_A%26M_University) in 1975. He later received his doctorate in biology from [Texas Tech University](/source/Texas_Tech_University) in 1978.[1] ## Hantavirus Residents living in the [Four Corners](/source/Four_Corners) region, which encompasses parts of [Arizona](/source/Arizona), [Colorado](/source/Colorado), [New Mexico](/source/New_Mexico) and [Utah](/source/Utah), began to experience a mysterious illness in the spring of 1993.[1] The then unknown [virus](/source/Virus) killed 32 people in just a few weeks, and sickened many others.[1] The illness was originally nicknamed "[Sin Nombre](/source/Virus_sin_Nombre)," after a New Mexican [canyon](/source/Canyon) where [Spanish](/source/Spain) settlers massacred [Native Americans](/source/Native_Americans_in_the_United_States) during the colonial era.[1] Terry Yates, a [professor](/source/Professor) at the [University of New Mexico](/source/University_of_New_Mexico), joined an interdisciplinary [research](/source/Research) team charged with finding the source of the mysterious illness by the National Science Foundation.[1] Yates, along with his research assistant, [Robert Parmenter](/source/Robert_Parmenter), isolated the source of the illness, which became known as the [hantavirus](/source/Hantavirus), by using animal [specimens](/source/Biological_specimen) which he had collected throughout the American Southwest.[1] Yates found that the hantavirus was carried by the [deer mouse](/source/Deer_mouse), a species which had a higher than usual population in early 1993 due to unusually wet weather in the region.[1] The discovery of the hantavirus' origin by Yates has helped to save lives and warn residents about the risks of the disease.[1] The virus has killed more than 125 people between 1993 and 2007.[1] Yates spent the later years of his life studying the connection between wet [weather patterns](/source/Weather_pattern) and deer mice populations.[1] The [National Science Foundation](/source/National_Science_Foundation) named Yates' discovery of the cause of the hantavirus as one of the top fifty projected funded by the NSF which had the greatest impact on peoples' lives.[1] ## University of New Mexico Yates was affiliated with the [University of New Mexico](/source/University_of_New_Mexico) for 29 years before his death in 2007.[1] He served as a professor of biology and [pathology](/source/Pathology), before becoming the UNM's [vice president](/source/Vice_president) for research and economic development, a position he held until his death.[1] Additionally, Yates directed the National Science Foundation's Division of [Environmental Biology](/source/Environmental_Biology) from 1990 to 1992 and again from 2000 to 2001.[1] In 2006, he was appointed to the [board of directors](/source/Board_of_directors) on [life sciences](/source/Life_sciences) of the [National Research Council](/source/United_States_National_Research_Council) of the [National Academy of Sciences](/source/United_States_National_Academy_of_Sciences).[1] ## Death Yates lived in [Placitas, New Mexico](/source/Placitas,_Sandoval_County,_New_Mexico).[1] He died of [cancer](/source/Cancer) on December 11, 2007, at the [University of New Mexico Hospital](/source/University_of_New_Mexico_Hospital) in [Albuquerque, New Mexico](/source/Albuquerque,_New_Mexico), at the age of 57.[1] In 2017, a recently discovered species of the [Oligoryzomys](/source/Oligoryzomys) genus (O. yatesi) was named after him as an homage for his "important contribution to the Chilean mammalogy research".[2] In 2014, a new species of subterranean rodent from South America was named after Dr. Yates which is called Yates's tuco-tuco, *Ctenomys yatesi* [Gardner et al., 2014](https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/parasitologyfacpubs/722/)[3][4][5] ## References 1. Schudel, Matt (2007-12-24). ["Terry Yates, 57; biologist found source of hantavirus"](http://archive.boston.com/bostonglobe/obituaries/articles/2007/12/24/terry_yates_57_biologist_found_source_of_hantavirus/). *[Washington Post](/source/Washington_Post)*. [Boston Globe](/source/Boston_Globe). Retrieved 2007-01-04. 1. Eduardo Palma, R & Rodríguez-Serrano, Enrique (2017-12-01). [*Systematics of Oligoryzomys (Rodentia, Cricetidae, Sigmodontinae) from southern Chilean Patagonia, with the description of a new species*](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/321532465) 1. Gardner, Scott L.; Salazar-Bravo, Jorge; Cook, Joseph A. (17 June 2014). "New Species of *Ctenomys* Blainville 1826 (Rodentia: Ctenomyidae) from the Lowlands and Central Valleys of Bolivia" 1. Leslie Reed (18 July 2014). "Gardner leads discovery of four new tuco-tuco species". UNL Today. University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Retrieved 21 July 2014. 1. Carson Vaughan (17 July 2014). "Found: 4 New Species of Gopher-Like Mammals". National Geographic. Retrieved 21 July 2014. --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Terry Yates](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Yates) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Yates?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.