This once extremely rare disease caused by rats is on the rise — and is to blame for a very high-profile death

New York Post

19 hours ago

Rats!
Health officials are reporting an increase in a rare but serious infectious disease spread by rodents — just four months after Gene Hackman's wife, the concert pianist Betsy Arakawa, died from it.
A Grand Canyon National Park employee was recently exposed to hantavirus, with five cases logged so far this year in Arizona, KLAS-TV reported this week.
Advertisement
3 Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, attend the Golden Globe Awards in 2003. The couple was found dead in their New Mexico home in February.
AP
Hundreds of miles away, an older woman was hospitalized last month with hantavirus, the summer's second confirmed case in the county south of Carson City, Nevada. It had been four years since that county, Douglas County, had recorded a case.
'The suspected exposure was from inhalation or direct contact with rodent droppings, urine or nesting material disturbed during household renovations in the weeks prior to symptom development,' Carson City Epidemiology Division Manager Dustin Boothe told local media.
Advertisement
In addition to inhaling particles from infected rodent poop, urine or nests or touching contaminated surfaces, humans can contract hantavirus from being bitten or scratched by a rodent carrying the virus. Contaminated food and water are also a concern.
Deer mice are the most common carriers in the US, but they're not alone. Rice rats and cotton rats have been implicated in the Southeast and white-footed mice in the Northeast.
3 Deer mice (pictured here) are the most common hantavirus carriers in the US.
silukstockimages – stock.adobe.com
Virginia Tech researchers recently identified 15 rodent species as carriers.
Advertisement
Their findings were published in March in the Ecosphere journal.
'This project is timely because hantavirus is considered an emerging disease of pandemic potential with symptoms that resemble severe COVID-19 infections,' study co-author Paanwaris Paansri said at the time.
The virus is not typically spread from person to person.
Advertisement
The disease often begins with flu-like symptoms like fever, fatigue and muscle aches and can rapidly progress to a severe respiratory illness marked by coughing, shortness of breath and fluid accumulation in the lungs.
Treatment focuses on supportive care because there's no specific cure for the virus. Deaths occur nearly 40% of the time.
It's unclear how many cases have been recorded across the country this year.
Three people died of hantavirus in the rural California town of Mammoth Lakes in the spring, with the county's public health officer calling the deaths 'tragic and alarming.'
3 Hantavirus often begins with flu-like symptoms like fever, fatigue and muscle aches and can rapidly progress to a severe respiratory illness marked by coughing, shortness of breath and fluid accumulation in the lungs.
Vladislav – stock.adobe.com
There were 864 cases of hantavirus in the US between 1993 and 2022, the most recent data available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
New Mexico was hardest hit with 122 cases, followed by Colorado at 119.
Advertisement
Arakawa, 65, and Hackman, 95, were found dead in their New Mexico home on Feb. 26.
New Mexico authorities believe that Arakawa died Feb. 12 and Hackman a few days later of heart disease, with Alzheimer's disease a contributing factor.
Rat nests and dead rodents were found in several places on their Santa Fe property.
Protecting yourself against hantavirus
Advertisement
Health officials at Edwards Air Force Base in California recently shared some tips to reduce hantavirus risk.