[FRIAM] Hackmann deaths - Hanta virus in Santa Fe ?

[steve smith]

On 3/8/25 7:42 AM, Frank Wimberly wrote:
> Very rare but very lethal.

I've been snorting lines of mouse and packrat dust my whole life and 
never even knew someone personally who contracted hanta-virus (though 
plenty of anecdotal and high-profile stories like Hackman's wife).   
I've known a number of people who have been diagnosed with Lyme disease 
while living in an area with a much lower flux of ticks than mice.   The 
former is highly lethal, the second can be life-changing debilitating 
and chronic (some folks' symptoms didn't really become pronounced for 
years after initial infection).   NM is also known for high rates of 
bubonic plague (rodent vector), the ABQ science fiction (small) 
conference is known as "Bubonicon".

I have become much more careful (respectful) of mouse-droppings, etc as 
I've aged (and become more aware of my mortality as my vulnerability 
also rises).   I don't look askance at people who choose to mask and 
carry a 10% bleach spray-bottle when they attack mouse-dropping 
detritus, though I do neither myself.  I have to remind some of those 
very people that running their handheld or even shop-vac in that context 
is possibly the very worst thing they can do.  Paradoxically, the most 
fastidious house-keepers may well be at the most risk if this is their 
method of keeping up with the invaders.

I *do* run a shop-vac when I do my twice yearly cleanout of my Yurt 
where the little buggers *are* known to take up residence if there is 
not enough human/pet activity to deter them ( I do use various 
deterrents such as cayenne, cinnamon, peppermint, pine oil, etc). But I 
do it in a wet context... spray down the floors, scrub with handled 
brush, wet-vac up the muck and then several rinse-passes.   I *never* 
dry-vac (aerosolize the potential hanta-laden urine-dust) where rodents 
may have spent much time. My probability of contracting hanta has 
probably dropped a couple of orders of magnitude from the years when I 
took no precautions whatsoever.  I don't ask anyone else to clean 
rodent-detritus for this very reason.

I was shocked to hear that the wife apparently died days before Hackman 
himself did.   I've had two Alzheimer's father-figures over the decades 
and can imagine that he might well have functioned minimally for a week 
in that context.  He was apparently not dehydraded, so was able to 
self-care to some extent.   I was full-time caretaker for my own father 
for about 10 days less than a year before his final passing and I could 
have imagined him wandering the house alone for a week if my mother had 
passed without anyone else knowing.  She had had to put escape-proof 
locks on the egress doors lest he go visiting the neighbors in the 
middle of the night (several incidents of such), it is possible the 
Hackman Residence had the same?

>
> ---
> Frank C. Wimberly
> 140 Calle Ojo Feliz,
> Santa Fe, NM 87505
>
> 505 670-9918
> Santa Fe, NM
>
> On Sat, Mar 8, 2025, 7:30 AM Sarbajit Roy <sroy.mb at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>         Just saw news videos of Santa Fe county's medical examiner
>         claiming the Hackman deaths were due to Hanta virus ?
>
>     Just curious to know if Hanta virus is common in NM ? Or, is it
>     some sort of cover up ?
>
>     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIcNMLepWuk
>
>     Sarbajit Roy (India)
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