Hantavirus has been in the news following the deaths of a noteworthy couple, and with many beginning spring-cleaning efforts ...

By Hank Sanders and Michael Levenson Betsy Arakawa, the wife of Gene Hackman, died from the effects of hantavirus, a rare disease often caused by contact with droppings from infected rodents.

Betsy Arakawa died from hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a rare rodent-spread disease with a mortality rate up to 50% in the American Southwest, officials said.

Hollywood mourns the loss of Gene Hackman, who passed away at 95 from heart disease, days after his wife Betsy Arakawa succumbed to hantavirus in thei ...

The two-time Oscar winner likely died of heart disease and not from a hantavirus infection, Dr. Heather Jarrell, chief medical examiner at New Mexico's Office of the Medical Investigator ...

Hackman, 95, died of cardiovascular and Alzheimer's disease likely around Feb. 18, about one week after his wife died from a ...

Ever since 1993, when a deadly disease outbreak in the Four Corners first revealed the presence of hantavirus in North ...

Hantavirus is a disease that can be transmitted through rodent bodily fluids. The virus only passes between humans in rare instances. Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS) is a specific type of ...

Betsy Arakawa died from a respiratory illness linked to a rare virus transmitted by infected rodents. Here's what to know ...

Officials reported Betsy's case to the CDC as the hantavirus is a "notifiable condition." "This is a serious disease," said Phipps. Here’s what to know about the rodent-borne virus.

The post-mortem examination showed Ms Arakawa, also known as Betsy Hackman, died of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome - a rare but potentially fatal disease. But, what is it - and how do you get infected?