State and federal investigators quarantined the distribution center Monday, and plan on testing the animals for the virus, in hopes of tracing its origin.
The hamster was carrying lymphocytic choriomeningitis, LCMV, which usually causes little to no illness in healthy people but can be deadly to those with weak immune systems.
The animal was shipped to a Rhode Island store where it was purchased for a woman shortly before she passed. The woman's death was not attributed to the hamster, but three patients who received a kidney, lungs and liver from her all came down with flu-like symptoms and died within weeks.
There is no commercial test to find LCMV.
Following the deaths, hamsters, mice and guinea pigs from the Rhode Island store were euthanized and sent to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for testing. It is also testing animals from the Ohio distribution center and hopes to have those results in the coming weeks.
Health officials have warned about such pets transmitting viruses, urging owners to wash their hands thoroughly after handling them, and encourage the use of gloves when cleaning their cages.
Two years ago, a pet praire dog infected dozens with monkeypox, a disease only previously seen in Africa. The outbreak was blamed on a Gambian rat that infected the praire dogs at an exotic pet dealer in Illinois.
