Betsy Arakawa died from hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a rare rodent-spread disease with a mortality rate up to 50% in the American Southwest, officials said.

Hantavirus explained after Gene Hackman’s wife Betsy Arakawa’s death was confirmed by chief medical examiner Dr Heather Jarrell at a press conference.

Weeks after two-time Oscar winning actor Gene Hackman and his wife were found dead in mysterious circumstances, it has been revealed that the latter died from a rare serious viral disease called Hantavirus.