Gene Hackman Cause of Death: Actor Died a Week After Wife Betsy Arakawa
variety.com
Gene Hackman died of cardiovascular disease about a week after his wife died of hantavirus, according to the New Mexico medical examiner.

Gene Hackman, who suffered from Alzheimer’s, lived in the house with his dead wife for a week before he died.

Of the three dogs living in the house, one died because it was locked in a carrier and therefore probably starved to death. The two free-living dogs were the only ones to survive.

  • @ytsedudeEnglish
    23•2 days ago

    Damn, that’s terrible… Did they not have family or someone to check in on them regularly? I guess if she was 65, they thought he was in good hands…

    I don’t know how easy it is to contact hantavirus. Does it take one rat or a lot?

    • @DonjuanmeEnglish
      8•2 days ago

      Just a tiny bit of infected rat shit.

      • @[email protected]English
        24•2 days ago

        Actually the most common way is through aerosolized particles, meaning there is a ton of rat shit and piss somewhere in your living space (like an attic or crawlspace) and it gets into your air supply. Far less commonly but still possibly it can be through direct exposure to feces and urine, or even more rarely through a scratch/bite

        Despite this it’s astoundingly rare. 20-50 cases annually for the entirety of the USA and less than 1000 from 1993-2022