Rare Hantavirus That Killed Gene Hackman's Wife Kills Three More People

The rare hantavirus — that few had heard of before it killed Gene Hackman‘s wife — has killed more people … this time in California.

Three victims in the town of Mammoth Lakes succumbed to hantavirus … which is what killed the actor’s wife, Betsy Arakawa.

The Mono County Health and Human Services Public Health Division announced this week the third death due to HPS in the town about 330 miles east of San Francisco.

Dr. Tom Boo, Mono County Public Health Officer, said he found the latest case involving hantavirus “tragic and alarming” … and doesn’t understand where the deceased individual would have contacted it.

As you know … Gene and Betsy were found dead in their New Mexico home on Feb. 26 — with Betsy’s cause of death determined to be hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS). HPS is caused by hantavirus.

Dr. Jeffrey Klausner, an infectious disease expert and professor at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, told TMZ at the time … hantavirus impacts the body fast, and since symptoms present themselves as a chest cold — and the virus is so rare — it is often misdiagnosed.

Hantavirus spreads to humans from rat/mouse poop and urine, which usually is contracted when someone cleans the attic or basement …  and it kills one in three people, Dr. Klausner tells us.