How do you catch Hantavirus, the infection that killed Gene Hackman’s wife?

By Carla K. Johnson AP Medical Writer

Gene Hackman’s wife, Betsy Arakawa, died of Hantavirus infection, New Mexico officials announced on Friday.

Hantavirus, found worldwide, is spread by contact with rodents or urine or feces. Does not spread between people. There is no specific treatment or healing, but early medical assistance can increase the chance of survival.

An infection can progress quickly and can endanger life.

“It really starts like flu: body pain, feeling weak in general,” said Dr. Sonja Bartholome from Ut Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. “At the beginning of the disease, you may not be able to say the difference between the haltavirus and have the flu.”

The virus can cause severe and sometimes fatal pulmonary infection called Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, according to American centers for disease control and prevention. The agency began to follow the virus after a 1993 outbreak in the Four Corners region – the area where Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah meet.

He was an Astut doctor with the Indian health service who first noticed a model of deaths among young patients, said Dr. Michelle Kharkins, a pulmonologist with the University of Mexico’s health science center, who has been studying the disease for years and helps patients.

“They were healthy, they had no medical problems and they came with a cardiopulmonary arrest,” she said, causing the CDC involvement while the experts worked to determine what the patients had.

Most of the US cases have been in Western states, especially in the south -west. Between 1993 and 2022, there were 864 reported cases in the US. The new Mexico had the largest number of that period, at 122, followed by Colorado at 119.

Seven cases were confirmed in 2023 and seven others in 2024, according to the New Mexico Health Department. As for deaths, the state reported 52 between 1975 and 2023.

The CDC offered to test evidence involved in the case of Arakawa to find out more about the virus stem that infected it and to perform the pathology.

Symptoms begin one to eight weeks after exposure and initially may include fatigue, fever and muscle pain, according to CDC. As the disease progresses, the symptoms may include cough, lack of breath and tightness in the chest, as the lungs are filled with liquid. About one third of people who develop respiratory symptoms in the disease can die, says CDC.

Despite the research years, Kharkins said many questions have not yet answered, including why it can be easy for some people and very severe for others and how antibodies are developing. She and other researchers followed patients for long periods of time, hoping to find a treatment.

“Many mysteries,” she said, mentioning that what the researchers know is that exposure to mouse is a key.

The best way to avoid germ is to minimize contact with rodents and droppings. Use protective gloves and a bleach solution for cleaning rodents. Experts in the field of prudent public health against sweeping or aspiration, which can cause the virus into the air.