A rare virus that killed actor Gene Hackman’s wife in February has been linked to the deaths of three people in California. Officials in Mono County, located between the crest of the Sierra Nevada mountains and the California-Nevada border, announced in a news release Thursday that a third person had died from a hantavirus in the small town of Mammoth Lakes so far this year. Hantaviruses are a group of viruses primarily spread through rodent urine, droppings or saliva and cause fevers, muscle aches and shortness of breath, with a nearly 40% mortality rate, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. |
