The virus that killed Betsy Arakawa, Gene Hackman’s wife, is a relatively rare but devastating threat without a vaccine, treatment or cure.
The rodents, mostly mice, are excreted the Hantavirus, a family of pathogens, mostly mice, and are excreted in the saliva of animals, excrement and urine.
In New Mexico, where Arakawa and Hackman lived, the most common carrier of Hantavirus is the deer mouse, a small creature with a white belly, large eyes and large ears.
“It is a horrible disease,” said Dr. Jeff Duchin, a public health officer withdrawn in Seattle who helped characterize the first known outbreak of the disease in the United States in 1993. “It is not uniformly fatal and is not always serious, but the mortality rate is still up to 40%, which is really high.”
Arakawa, 65, died of Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, and Hackman, 95, died a week after hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, the authorities said on Friday. Alzheimer’s disease was a significant contributory factor in Hackman’s death.
What are the symptoms?
In the United States, when a person is infected, the virus often causes fatigue, fever and muscle aches, according to centers for disease control and prevention. Some people who deal with infection, called Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS), may have headaches, dizziness, chills and stomach problems.
“Initially, there is nothing specific that would tell you that you have Hantavirus. You might think that you have covid or influenza, or simply an infection acquired by the really bad community,” said Duchin.
Dr. Scott Roberts, assistant professor at Yale Medicine Faculty, said the symptoms can take up to eight weeks to present after an exhibition. “It is very possible that this is lost,” he said.
In the most serious cases, Hantavirus can progress to the lungs and cause dangerous respiratory disease. Symptoms include coughing, lack of breath and liquid in the lungs.
“Progressive fatal and rapid pulmonary disease may appear very quickly, in hours. That, in itself, can become fatal in a very short timeline,” said Duchin.
In its last stages, he added, the disease causes a “fall in blood pressure (blood vessels with leaks) and that makes the liquid seep in the lungs and tissues and makes it very difficult to obtain oxygen and decreases blood pressure, which generally is the cause of death and serious disease.”
How common is Hantavirus?
The disease was characterized for the first time in the United States in 1993 after an outbreak in the four corner area of the Southwest, by a team of CDC employees, including Duchin, and New Mexico’s local doctors. Fourteen people finally died at the outbreak.
“Before 1993, this virus was not known and there was no other recognized hemorrhagic fever virus” in the United States, said Duchin, who was part of the Epidemic Intelligence Service of the CDC in 1993. “Healthy young people were dying of this quickly progressive pulmonary disease without other explanation, which really triggered the alarms.”
129 cases of Hantavirus have been confirmed in New Mexico since 1993, according to CDC. More than 860 cases of Hantavirus were reported throughout the country from 1993 to 2022.
“There is not much we can do: there is no vaccine, without treatment, it is support care,” Roberts said. “The best way to deal with this is prevention.”
How do people get the disease?
The disease is most frequently informed in the west of the United States, and particularly in the southwest, where deer mice are common.
“That’s where it circulates in the animal population. That’s where animals are infected and humans continue,” Roberts said.
People tend to obtain Hantavirus when they disturb droppings or mice urine in the dusty corners of barns, cabins or dependencies near forest lands, even during cleaning.
The New Mexico Department of Health evaluated the risk of Hantavirus within the House of Hackman and Arakawa, in itself, as low, but found evidence of rodents in other places, said Erin Phipps, state veterinarian of public health of the department at a press conference on Friday.
“We identify rodent entry signs in other structures on property,” said PHIPPS.
It is not clear how Arakawa contracted the disease.
If he cleans the living spaces after a rodent infestation, PHIPPS said it is important to wear gloves, wear a N-95 respirator, open windows and trust disinfectants.
PHIPPS should also take other steps, which includes “avoiding contact or breathing in urine or feces of aerosolized rodents, especially in a poorly ventilated area.”
“Never sweep or empty mice droppings, as this can extend the particles to the air,” he said.
The Hantavirus family is also a concern in Europe and Asia, where other rodent species spread a different version of the virus and can cause hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS).
