Track worker negative for hantavirus

A Belmont Park worker who died earlier this month was not killed by the hantavirus, a rare illness found in rat droppings, the State Department of Health said Saturday.

The backstretch employee tested negative for the illness, according to samples sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, state health officials said.

The worker, who has not been identified, was found unconscious outside racetrack housing on June 1, and died five days later in the hospital, prompting a state and federal investigation of the facility's 78 housing buildings.

It appears the groom's cause of death was bacterial sepsis, a systemwide infection, in this case from the bacteria Klebsiella.

While no other cases were found, the New York State Racing Association, which operates the track, said they would continue to work with the state health department to reduce the chance of further infections.

The infection the killed the employee is not contagious, officials said.