Gene Hackman died of heart disease days after his wife, Betsy Arakawa, died from hantavirus pulmonary syndrome

The Guardian

Dani Anguiano and Associated Press

Gene Hackman died of natural causes days after his wife, Betsy Arakawa, succumbed to a rare respiratory virus, authorities said on Friday. 

Arakawa died of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome while Hackman died of heart disease, with advanced Alzheimer’s disease contributing, said Dr Heather Jarrell, the chief medical investigator for the New Mexico office of the medical investigator. The couple’s partially mummified bodies were discovered last month at their home in New Mexico.

The 95-year-old Hackman may have lived for as long as a week after Arakawa’s death, she said. Officials speculated that he may have been unaware she was deceased.

“He was in a very poor state of health. He had significant heart disease, and I think ultimately that’s what resulted in his death,” Jarrell said.

The press conference New Mexico authorities held on Friday provided some answers in the mystery of what happened to the couple. Hackman and Arakawa were discovered last week after a maintenance worker, concerned when no one answered the door, contacted neighborhood security, who spotted their bodies through a window and called the police. One of their three dogs was also found dead.

The Santa Fe county sheriff’s office said it did not suspect foul play. But officials could not immediately determine what happened to the couple as there were no signs of trauma to their bodies and tests for carbon monoxide poisoning were negative.

At the press conference on Friday afternoon, the sheriff, Adan Mendoza, revealed that investigators had been able to piece together Arakawa’s final days and found that she had picked up her dog, who was later found dead nearby, from a veterinary appointment on 9 February and that she had responded to emails and went out shopping on 11 February. The last known activity from Arakawa was that day, the sheriff said.

Arakawa’s death was linked to hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a rare but potentially fatal disease spread by infected rodent droppings. Exposures occur when people are near mouse droppings in homes, sheds or poorly ventilated areas.

Hackman’s pacemaker last showed activity on 17 February, nine days before maintenance and security workers showed up at the home and alerted police. Officials said it was “reasonable to conclude” that Hackman died around 18 February.

Arakawa was found with an open prescription bottle and pills scattered on the bathroom counter, while Hackman was found in the home’s entryway.

One of the couple’s three dogs also was found dead in a crate in a bathroom closet near Arakawa, while two other dogs survived. Authorities initially misidentified the breed of the dead animal.

When they were found, the bodies were decomposing with some mummification, a consequence of body type and climate in Santa Fe’s especially dry air at an elevation of nearly 7,200ft (2,200 meters).

Hackman, a Hollywood icon, won two Oscars during a storied career in films including The French Connection, Hoosiers and Superman from the 1960s until his retirement in the early 2000s.

Arakawa, born in Hawaii, studied as a concert pianist, attended the University of Southern California and met Hackman in the mid-1980s while working at a California gym.

The couple’s stucco, Pueblo-revival style home sits on a hill in a gated community at the southern tip of the Rocky Mountains. Santa Fe is known as a refuge for celebrities, artists and authors.

Hackman dedicated much of his time in retirement to painting and writing novels far from Hollywood’s social circuit. He served for several years on the board of trustees at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, and he and his wife were investors in local businesses.

Betsy Arakawa, died from hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. But what exactly is this rare illness?

Coral Murphy Marcos

Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome is a rare but serious viral disease that can damage the heart, lungs, and other organs. The syndrome progresses quickly and can be fatal, according to the Cleveland Clinic, one of the largest and most respected medical centers in the US.

Hantaviruses cause two syndromes, including HPS and hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. People can contract HPS by inhaling, eating, drinking, or coming into contact with infected mouse or rat feces, urine, or saliva. Although not all mice and rats carry hantaviruses, some species, including deer mice, white-footed mice, rice rats and cotton rats, are known carriers in North America.

“Between one and eight weeks after that exposure, someone might begin to feel like they have a flu-like illness,” Dr Sonja Bartolome of UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, told the Guardian.

In the United States, most cases of HPS occur in states west of the Mississippi River.

“It’s mostly in rural areas, because that’s where most of the rodents carrying the disease live,” Bartolome said.

HPS remains rare in the US despite its severe symptoms. 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.

Person-to-person transmission is extremely rare and has only been documented in cases of a hantavirus strain found in Argentina and Chile.

Once the hantavirus enters the body, it replicates and spreads, which can cause a severe amount of damage in the lungs. The virus weakens blood vessels and causes leakage and fluid buildup in the air sacs, making breathing difficult.

In the heart, it damages the heart muscle and weakens blood vessels while reducing the heart’s ability to pump oxygen-rich blood to the body’s organs. If untreated, these effects can lead to shock, organ failure, and death.

HPS symptoms work in three phases. The first is the incubation phase, lasting up to eight weeks, during which the virus is present in the body but no noticeable symptoms are present.

The second phase develops quickly and includes fever, chills, fatigue, muscle aches, stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, rash, dry cough, headache, and dizziness. This stage lasts between two and eight days.

About four to 10 days after these initial symptoms, the third and most severe phase begins. This last phase includes internal bleeding, fluid-filled lungs, difficulty breathing, a rapid heartbeat, and chest tightness. These symptoms can be life-threatening and require immediate medical attention.

There is no specific treatment or cure, but early medical attention can increase the chance of survival. Patients usually require oxygen therapy, fluid replacement, medications to stabilize blood pressure, antiviral medications like ribavirin, among other care. If patients survive the late-stage symptoms, recovery typically takes a few weeks.

Although no vaccine exists for HPS, the Cleveland Clinic recommends taking prevention strategies to help reduce risk. These include avoiding wild rodents, sealing entry points in homes, properly cleaning and disinfecting rodent-contaminated areas, using protective gear when handling droppings, and keeping food securely stored.

Sweeping or vacuuming droppings is not recommended because it could release virus particles into the air.