United States: The autopsy revealed that actor Gene Hackman passed away due to atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease together with advanced Alzheimer’s disease, whilst medical authorities reported his spouse died from “hantavirus pulmonary syndrome” (HPS).
About Hantaviruses
Dr. Rhys Parry from the University of Queensland in Australia defines hantaviruses as a virus group that uses rodents for transmission and causes severe human illnesses of the respiratory and kidney systems.
Mrs. Hackman developed HPS as an outcome of hantavirus exposure in North and Central or South America, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
According to the CDC, “The hantaviruses that are found throughout the United States are not known to spread between people,” Fox News reported.
For patients who become infected with HPS, this disease leads to the death of approximately 40% of them, based on information from the cited source.
How does the disease spread?
“Hantaviruses typically spread when humans breathe in virus particles from disturbed rodent urine, droppings or nesting materials,” as Parry noted.
The CDC has recognized various patterns through which this pathogen spreads.
Human beings risk infection from hantaviruses through contact with dusty airborne rodent waste during cleanup activities.
The disease spreads when people handle contaminated objects and place their hands on their mouth or nose.
A person can develop an infection by allowing rodents to bite or scratch them, as Fox News reported.
When people consume food that contains hantavirus microorganisms.
What more are the experts stating?
According to Dr. Marc Siegel, who holds the position of clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone Health and serves as a Fox News senior medical analyst, hantavirus transmission occurs through rodent-derived dust that also contains saliva and urine and pathogen contact areas.
According to the doctor, deer mice are the primary carriers of this virus throughout the United States.
Most hantavirus cases occur in rural zones because the Centers for Disease Control observes rodents more readily enter houses and barns in those locations.
Hantavirus infections are “incredibly rare,” according to both the experts.
“This is a pretty sad set of circumstances,” Parry mentioned.
“I’m honestly impressed they were able to determine it was HPS after the fact,” he noted.
Furthermore, as Siegal maintained, the disease 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.”