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

[Marcus Daniels]

Because the climate is mild much of the year, I often just left the doors open. Dust settles and the air is dry. The soil is sandy so there isn’t much in the way of mud to bring in. I could see how it would be easy for a caretaker like Arakawa to let things go. It seems clean even when it is filthy. 

Cleaning is satisfying in a climate like New Mexico. Use all the water you want. It will evaporate within the hour! 

Here (the coast) if one doesn’t stay on top of things, mold is everywhere. iRobot is running all the time to keep the dirt and dust off the floors. HEPA filters in every room to cope with smoke from fires or COVID-19.


From: Friam <friam-bounces at redfish.com> on behalf of steve smith <sasmyth at swcp.com>
Date: Saturday, March 8, 2025 at 7:46 AM
To: friam at redfish.com <friam at redfish.com>
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Hackmann deaths - Hanta virus in Santa Fe ? 


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 <mailto: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 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIcNMLepWuk>

Sarbajit Roy (India) 



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