Three more people have died in California from hantavirus, the same rare but serious mouse-borne disease that killed Betsy Arakawa, Gene Hackman's wife, in New Mexico in February.
The deaths all occurred in the rural California town of Mammoth Lakes, and public health officials are worried about further illnesses and deaths from the disease.
Mono County Public Health called the deaths both "tragic" and "alarming."
“The occurrence of three cases in a short period has me worried,” Mono County Public Health Officer Dr. Tom Boo said.
When hantavirus is present, it occurs in the urine, droppings and saliva of infected mice, according to the CDC. In America, it infects deer mice.
The disease cannot be passed from person to person, it usually manifests after humans have contact with infected mouse secretions or they inhale vaporized secretions that have gotten into the air.
This often occurs when people clean up mouse-infested areas with a vacuum or a broom. Two of the California deaths happened just this way, officials have determined.
One victim vacuumed rodent droppings, while another had a known mouse infestation in their home.
Hantavirus can manifest in two ways: hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS), which affects the lungs and breathing, and hantavirus fever with renal syndrome (HFRS), which causes kidney failure in some cases.
About 38% of those who contract HPS die from the disease (good thing it's so rare); while 1-15% of those with HFRS die from it.
Police and health officials are puzzled by the third person who died of hantavirus; there was no known infestation or contact with rodents in this case.
Before you start freaking out, hantavirus is rare. There are only 20 to 50 cases of it in the U.S. in a given year, but having this many deaths from it so early in the year is unusual.
There is no known connection between Arakawa's death in New Mexico and the ones in California.
Still, having so many cases so early in the year is unusual; most hantavirus cases occur in later spring and summer, officials said.
