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There is no specific treatment or cure for hantavirus early medical attention can increase the chance of survival. (Pic: File/AP)
Hollywood actor Gene Hackman's wife, Betsy Arakawa, died from a hantavirus infection, officials in New Mexico announced. Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, or HPS, is a viral disease that spreads through infected mice and rats. It can damage your organs and be deadly.
According to experts, there is no specific treatment or cure, but early medical attention can increase the chance of survival. An infection can rapidly progress and become life-threatening.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say there have been many hantavirus cases in the US, mostly in the western states—especially the southwest. Between 1993 and 2022, there were 864 reported US cases. New Mexico had the highest number over that time, at 122, followed by Colorado at 119.
The CDC has offered to test samples involved in Arakawa’s case to learn more about the strain of virus that infected her and to perform pathology testing.
Hackman and Arakawa were found dead along with their dog in their New Mexico home on February 26. Authorities believe she passed away about seven days before her husband, to whom she had been married for more than 30 years. Hackman, 95, died from coronary artery disease, with advanced Alzheimer's disease a contributing factor.
The investigator's office said 65-year-old Arakawa died first on February 11.
How do you get Hantavirus?
Doctors say HPS is a rare viral disease that can damage your heart, lungs, and other organs. It progresses quickly and can be fatal. Also known as hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome, you can get the infection while inhaling, drinking, eating, or otherwise coming into contact with an infected mouse of rat feces, urine, or saliva.
According to experts, while most people survive, up to 40 per cent of all cases are fatal.
Once the virus enters your body, it replicates and spreads. In your lungs, the virus causes the 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.
Signs and symptoms of hantavirus
Doctors say the symptoms usually start one to eight weeks after exposure. Hantavirus causes three different phases of symptoms as the infection progresses. The first stage of HPS is the incubation, which lasts up to eight weeks. During this period, you have the hantavirus, but you don’t have any outward signs of infection. Symptoms in the second and third phases include:
- High fever
- Chills
- Fatigue
- Muscle aches, especially around your thighs
- Stomach pain
- Nausea and vomiting
- Diarrhoea
- Rash
- Dry cough and breathlessness
- Headache
- Dizziness
- Internal bleeding
- Your lungs fill up with fluid
- Severe coughing
- Trouble breathing
- Rapid heartbeat
- Chest tightness
How is hantavirus treated?
According to doctors, it is important to treat HPS as soon as possible. If you have flu-like symptoms after being around mice or rat droppings, visit a hospital right away. HPS treatment usually involves intensive care where doctors monitor your needs and may provide specific treatments, including:
- Oxygen therapy
- Fluid replacement
- Medication to raise your blood pressure
- Antiviral medication
- Mechanical ventilation
- Dialysis
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