A month after the famed actor Gene Hackman's wife Betsy Arakawa died of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome in the couple’s New Mexico home, three people in the rural California town of Mammoth Lakes have died from the same disease which has caused alarm amongst health officials, reported New York Post on 5 April.
According to the report, Betsy Arakawa died in February from hantavirus pulmonary syndrome after which the rare disease came into the national spotlight.
The report added that Mono County Public Health has confirmed three more deaths this week.
“The occurrence of three cases in a short period has me worried,” NYP quoted Dr. Tom Boo, Mono County Public Health Officer, as saying.
For the health officials, it took two weeks to unravel the mystery surrounding the celebrity couple’s death as they revealed Arakawa had contracted the fatal virus.
How HPS is spread?
Experts suggest hantavirus pulmonary syndrome is caught through contact with feces, urine or saliva of infected mice. It is caught mostly by inhaling contaminated air particles.
Each year, somewhere between 20 and 50 people catch HPS, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. One-third of people infected die from the disease.
What experts said?
Citing the reasons for people's death, Mono County Public Health authorities stated one of the other two cases may have resulted from the victim vacuuming rodent waste, while the individual was likely exposed at home during a known infestation
However, there was no evidence of mice infection in this latest case, which has deepened the mystery around the elusive disease.
“We don’t have a clear sense of where this young adult may have contracted the virus,” NYP quoted Boo as saying.
In HPS, the infections occur in the late spring or summer, making these three cases this early in the year “strikingly unusual,” added Mono County Public Health.
