Fox Health: What is hantavirus, the cause of Gene Hackman’s wife’s death?

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What is hantavirus, the cause of Gene Hackman's wife's death?

Gene Hackman's wife, Betsy Arakawa Hackman, died from hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. What is hantavirus and how does it spread? Experts weigh in on the fatal disease....                        ...                        ...                            ...The causes of death have been revealed for actor Gene Hackman, 95, and his wife Betsy Arakawa Hackman, 65.......Hackman was found to have atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease along with advanced You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, while his wife likely passed away first from "hantavirus pulmonary syndrome" (HPS), according to New Mexico authorities.......Hantaviruses include a You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login primarily carried by rodents that can cause severe respiratory or renal diseases in humans, according to Dr. Rhys Parry, a molecular virologist at the University of Queensland in Australia. ......You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login......Most hantaviruses that are found in North, Central and South America can cause HPS, the condition that Hackman's wife was found to have, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)......."The hantaviruses that are found throughout the United States are not known to spread between people," the CDC stated.......HPS has a nearly 40% fatality rate in those You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, according to the above source......."Hantaviruses typically spread when humans breathe in virus particles from disturbed rodent urine, droppings or nesting materials," Parry told Fox News Digital.......You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login......The CDC lists the following potential mechanisms of spread:......Dr. Marc Siegel, clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone Health and Fox News senior medical analyst, agreed that hantavirus can spread via dust from rodents' saliva, urine and places they touch. ......The most common You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to carry it in the U.S. is the deer mouse, the doctor noted.......Most hantavirus cases are seen in rural areas, where it is more likely for rodents to get into homes or barns, the CDC noted. ......Hantavirus infections are "incredibly rare," both experts agreed.......You are not allowed to view links. Register or LoginYou are not allowed to view links. Register or Login     ......"This is a pretty sad set of circumstances," Parry noted. "I'm honestly impressed they were able to determine it was HPS after the fact."......Siegel added that it rarely affects humans "because only some of the rodents have it, and they don't all come into contact — but one-third to one-half of cases are fatal."......Early symptoms of hantavirus include fever, muscle aches, fatigue and You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login that appear anywhere from one to eight weeks after exposure, according to Parry. ......"These progress to serious respiratory symptoms like coughing, shortness of breath and fluid in the lungs four to 10 days later," he said.......Sin Nombre virus is the most common hantavirus in the United States, which causes hantavirus pulmonary syndrome with a mortality rate of approximately 38%. ......"It typically becomes fatal when the lungs fill with fluid, leading to You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login and insufficient oxygen reaching vital organs," Parry noted.......You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login......There is no specific antiviral treatment for hantavirus, the expert said, although early intensive care with oxygen therapy and You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login is crucial. ......"Early intensive medical care is critical because patients who have sudden acute disease can rapidly become severely sick and die," the CDC states. ......"If a patient is experiencing full distress, it is less likely the treatment will be effective."......Supportive care can include monitoring You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, administering fluids and oxygen, and placing the patient on a ventilator as needed. Patients may also receive broad-spectrum antibiotic therapy, fever reducers and You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login......."Although there is no cure for hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, it is important to seek medical care when short of breath, because the patient may need support from a mechanical ventilator or extra-corporal membrane oxygenator (ECMO) machine to deliver enough oxygen to their body," Dr. Sonja Bartolome, an expert in pulmonology and critical care at UT Southwestern Medical Center, told Fox News Digital.  ......"Even with medical care, 30% to 40% of people who develop hantavirus pulmonary syndrome will not survive." ......Bartolome offered some tips for preventing this rare infection......."It can be prevented by keeping wild mice and rats out of your home, cleaning up rodent waste quickly when encountered, and staying away from areas infested with rodents," she told Fox News Digital.  ......"When cleaning up rodent waste, it is important to wear rubber gloves, use disinfectant and wash your hands afterward." ...

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