All about hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, the disease Gene Hackman’s wife Betsy Arakawa died of

Hollywood is yet to recover from the death of Gene Hackman. The Oscar-winning actor was found dead in late February this year in their New Mexico home, along with his wife, Betsy Arakawa, an American classical pianist. While Arakawa, 65, died of hantavirus, Hackman, 95, died of heart disease almost a week later, the New Mexico medical investigator’s office revealed Friday.
The authorities are currently working to lay out a timeline of what happened. However, as per them, Hackman had Alzheimer’s disease and may not have realized that he was alone in the days before he died.
Along with Hackman, Arakawa’s body too was found in a state of decomposition, in a bathroom, with prescription medications scattered nearby.

Arakawa’s last known interactions were on February 11. According to Santa Fe Sheriff Adan Mendoza, she had a short email exchange with her massage therapist that morning and later visited a Sprouts Farmers Market, CVS pharmacy, and a dog food store before returning to her gated community at around 5:15 p.m. After that, there apparently was no other known activity or outgoing communication from her.
As per Mendonza, “Numerous emails were unopened on her computer on February 11.”
Although the authorities are still working on the timeline of all the incidents, it is certain that Arakawa died from hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a rare disease that results from infection through contact with rodents, according to Dr. Heather Jarrell, chief medical examiner for the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator.
As per Jarrell, pills found scattered on the bathroom floor near Arakawa’s body were prescription thyroid medication and not related to her death.
Zinna, one of the animal-loving couple’s dogs, was found dead in a crate in the bathroom near her body.
According to Jarrell, “Based on the circumstances, it is reasonable to conclude that Ms. Arakawa passed away first.”


According to Mayo Clinic, hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) is a rare infectious disease that begins with flu-like symptoms and progresses rapidly to a more severe disease. It can lead to life-threatening lung and heart problems. The disease is also called hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome.
Several strains of the hantavirus can cause hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. They are carried by different types of rodents. The most common carrier in North America is the deer mouse. Infection is usually caused by inhaling hantaviruses that have become airborne from rodent urine, droppings, or saliva.

Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome is rare. As of December 2020, there have only been 833 recorded cases of HPS in the United States since medical researchers began tracking it in 1993.

Causes:
Rodent carriers: HPS is a human disease found only in North and South America. Each strain of the hantavirus has a preferred rodent carrier. The deer mouse is the most common carrier of the virus in North America and Central America. In the United States, most of the infections occur in the states west of the Mississippi River.
Other carriers in North America include the rice rat and cotton rat in the Southeast and the white-footed mouse in the Northeast. Rodent carriers in South America include the rice rat and the vesper mouse.
Transmission: The virus is present in the rodent's urine, feces, or saliva. You can come in contact with the virus in the following ways:
Inhaling viruses — the most likely form of transmission — when they become airborne from disturbed rodent droppings or nesting materials
Eating food contaminated with mouse saliva, urine, or droppings
Touching things contaminated with the virus, such as a nest, and then touching your mouth, eyes, or nose
Being bitten or scratched by an infected rodent
Person-to-person transmission of the virus has only been recorded with a strain of the virus found in South America called the Andes virus.
Symptoms:
The time from infection with the hantavirus to the start of illness is usually about 2 to 3 weeks. Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome advances through two distinct stages. In the first stage, which can last for several days, the most common signs and symptoms are:
Fever and chills
Muscle aches or pain
Headache
Some people may also experience:
Nausea
Stomach pain
Vomiting
Diarrhea
As the disease progresses, it can lead to damaged lung tissues, fluid build-up in the lungs, and serious problems with lung and heart function. Signs and symptoms may include:
Cough
Difficulty breathing
Low blood pressure
Irregular heart rate


Once the hantavirus enters your body, it replicates and spreads. In your lungs, the virus causes your blood vessels to weaken and leak. The air sacs in your lungs can fill with blood, which makes breathing difficult.
In your heart, the virus damages your heart muscle itself and causes your blood vessels to become weak and leak. Weak, leaky blood vessels affect your heart’s ability to pump oxygen-filled blood and nutrients to cells and organs in your body. When your cells and organs can’t get enough blood, your body goes into shock.
If your body goes into shock, you can quickly experience organ failure and die.
Effect of the virus:
When hantaviruses reach the lungs, they invade tiny blood vessels called capillaries, eventually causing them to leak. Your lungs fill with fluid (pulmonary edema), resulting in severe dysfunction of the lungs and heart.
Related disease:
Another disease caused by different strains of the hantavirus is called hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome, which causes severe kidney disease. These variants of the virus have other animal carriers in Africa, Asia, and Europe.

Keeping rodents out of your home and workplace can help reduce your risk of hantavirus infection.
Block access: Mice can squeeze through holes as small as 1/4 inch (6 millimeters) wide. Seal holes with wire screening, steel wool, metal flashing, or cement.
Close the food buffet: Wash dishes promptly, clean counters and floors, and store your food — including pet food — in rodent-proof containers. Use tightfitting lids on garbage cans.
Reduce nesting material: Clear brush, grass, and junk away from a building's foundation.
Set traps: Spring-loaded traps should be set along baseboards. Exercise caution while using poison-bait traps, as the poison also can harm people and pets.
Move rodent-friendly yard items: Move woodpiles or compost bins away from the house.
Air out unused spaces: Open up and air out cabins, campers, or infrequently used buildings before cleaning.
While going for cleanup procedures, keep these points in mind to ensure safety.
Wear a mask and rubber or plastic gloves.
Spray the nest, droppings, or dead rodent with a household disinfectant, alcohol or bleach and water solution. Let it sit for five minutes.
Use paper towels to clean up and dispose of towels in the garbage.
Mop or sponge the area with a disinfectant.
Wash gloved hands and dispose of gloves and mask.
Wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water.
Treatment:
It’s important to treat HPS as soon as possible. If you have flu-like symptoms after being around mouse or rat droppings, consultation with a healthcare provider is advisable.
HPS treatment usually involves intensive care. Healthcare providers will monitor your needs and may provide specific treatments, including:
Oxygen therapy.
Fluid replacement.
Medication to raise your blood pressure.
Antiviral medication (ribavirin).
Mechanical ventilation.
Dialysis.
In severe cases, HPS is treated with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).