Officials said Friday that Betsy Arakawa, the wife of Academy Award-winning actor Gene Hackman, died of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome last month in the couple’s home in New Mexico.
Hantavirus can infect humans through contact with rodents – most commonly through the deer mouse in the United States – especially when exposed to their urine, droppings and saliva, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It does not spread from person to person.
In the US and other parts of the Western Hemisphere, a hantavirus infection can cause hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a rare disease that can severely affect the lungs.
Between 1993 and 2022, 834 cases of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome were reported in the US, primarily in Western states, CDC data shows.
New Mexico has had more reported cases of hantavirus than any other state, and about 41% of those patients died from the disease. A virus called Sin Nombre is the most common hantavirus in the Southwestern US, said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Because there are limited treatments for the disease, the best protection is to avoid contact with rodents and to be safe when cleaning up rodent habitats, according to the Mayo Clinic.
“If it’s very dusty, and they get in and are cleaning up around where the contaminated environment is, they can cause little clouds of dust and then inhale those viral particles,” Schaffner said.
Symptoms can take up to two months to show up after contact with the virus, often starting with fatigue, fever and muscle aches that can develop into coughing and shortness of breath within a few days. Some people with the disease may also have headaches, dizziness and chills, as well as nausea or other abdominal problems.
Because it affects the lungs, hantavirus pulmonary syndrome can cause breathing difficulties, and some patients may require breathing support such as intubation. More than a third of people who develop respiratory symptoms may die from the disease, according to the CDC.
Some symptoms of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome may be mistaken for the flu or other respiratory diseases, making possible rodent exposure an important factor for health care providers to be aware of and consider.
The CDC recommends that individuals seek emergency care immediately if hantavirus pulmonary syndrome is suspected because the disease can advance rapidly.
After a phase of flu-like symptoms that can last about three to six days, patients can transition to a new phase in which they develop fluid in and around their lungs, Dr. Heather Jarrell, chief medical investigator at the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator, said at a news conference Friday.
“And at that point, a person can die very quickly, within 24 to 48 hours, roughly speaking, without medical treatment,” she said.
There is no specific treatment for hantavirus infection, according to the CDC. Supportive care, including rest, hydration and supplemental oxygen, can help.
“Physicians who practice in the Southwest are aware of it, and of course, the treatment for those illnesses is symptomatic and supportive care, because we don’t have a specific anti-hantavirus antiviral,” Schaffner said.
