Hantavirus is no joke.
this post was submitted on 07 Mar 2025
382 points (97.8% liked)
World News
42732 readers
3672 users here now
A community for discussing events around the World
Rules:
-
Rule 1: posts have the following requirements:
- Post news articles only
- Video links are NOT articles and will be removed.
- Title must match the article headline
- Not United States Internal News
- Recent (Past 30 Days)
- Screenshots/links to other social media sites (Twitter/X/Facebook/Youtube/reddit, etc.) are explicitly forbidden, as are link shorteners.
-
Rule 2: Do not copy the entire article into your post. The key points in 1-2 paragraphs is allowed (even encouraged!), but large segments of articles posted in the body will result in the post being removed. If you have to stop and think "Is this fair use?", it probably isn't. Archive links, especially the ones created on link submission, are absolutely allowed but those that avoid paywalls are not.
-
Rule 3: Opinions articles, or Articles based on misinformation/propaganda may be removed. Sources that have a Low or Very Low factual reporting rating or MBFC Credibility Rating may be removed.
-
Rule 4: Posts or comments that are homophobic, transphobic, racist, sexist, anti-religious, or ableist will be removed. “Ironic” prejudice is just prejudiced.
-
Posts and comments must abide by the lemmy.world terms of service UPDATED AS OF 10/19
-
Rule 5: Keep it civil. It's OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It's NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
-
Rule 6: Memes, spam, other low effort posting, reposts, misinformation, advocating violence, off-topic, trolling, offensive, regarding the moderators or meta in content may be removed at any time.
-
Rule 7: We didn't USED to need a rule about how many posts one could make in a day, then someone posted NINETEEN articles in a single day. Not comments, FULL ARTICLES. If you're posting more than say, 10 or so, consider going outside and touching grass. We reserve the right to limit over-posting so a single user does not dominate the front page.
We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.
All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.
Lemmy World Partners
News [email protected]
Politics [email protected]
World Politics [email protected]
Recommendations
For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/
- Consider including the article’s mediabiasfactcheck.com/ link
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Euthanasia is a human right
This is why I detest the idea of keeping someone alive at any cost that's currently the law, euthanasia should be legalized and available to everyone, at some point we all have to die, I don't understand why make people suffer into old age, we put pets down when they get too old and sick because we know that's mercy, then why is the same mercy not shown to human beings.
Edit: I am talking about auto euthanasia, aka an individuals right to chose his own end, not others making that choice for old / sick people
because people can't misuse laws for pet euthanasia in order to get an early inheritance, or to get their toe in before a will changes.
in many scenarios, euthanasia does make sense but there is ample opportunity for greedy people to misuse such laws. it would be hazardous to enact such a law unless adequate protection is provided.
Well, so provide adequate protection... Like with universal healthcare, many countries have figured it out, it's not really trailblazing territory anymore.
I was referring to auto euthanasia, where the person choses it of his own will, of course lots and lots of saftey and security checks need to still be added to make sure no one is being coerced into it
Because religion
Sorry, are you saying other people should be allowed to "put down" someone whenever they decide it's mercy? Are you applying your example about putting down pets directly to humans?
You know who had a big euthanasia program? The Nazis. They murdered people who were unworthy to live. They killed (among many groups of people) people born with disabilities and justified it as "mercy".
I think you meam something else so please be careful what you are writing. It's easily misunderstood.
Euthanasia can be voluntary.
You have no idea what you're talking about, and frankly, people like you are the reason that so many people are forced to suffer through an undignified, painful and traumatic death, despite the existence of better alternatives.
Please be careful what you're writing.
Fwiw, I understood their comment as "everyone should have the right to decide when they want to die, we need death with dignity laws"
I felt the implication was people with terminal illnesses and such.
I did not interpret it anywhere near "we should murder healthy people against their will in gas chambers."
I'm talking about individuals choosing euthanasia of their own free will, not others choosing that option for someone.
Oof... When I had read the news that everyone had died in the house I assumed it was a CO2/Carbon Monoxide leak. This is even sadder. 😟
That's what I thought too. It's very sad.
Reminds me of that case in the UK where a dad suffered a heart attack and his 2 year old child died from dehydration. As a dad that one made a tear come to my eye.
Fucking grim.
God damn, that's an even sadder ending than I thought it would be.
Notable points:
- Betsy likely died on or shortly after Feb 11.
- Gene's pacemaker recorded last heart activity on Feb 18.
- Betsy died from hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, likely transmitted to her by a mouse. Hantavirus mortality rate in the US southwest is 38% to 50%.
- The pills in the bathroom were thyroid medication.
- Gene's cause of death was heart related. He showed severe cardiac and pulmonary problems, had a history of heart attacks and related surgeries.
- Gene's brain showed advanced Alzheimer's.
- Gene did not have hantavirus. Neither had Covid, flu, or any other common respiratory disease. No effects of carbon monoxide were seen.
- No mention of the dog, but with the time frames involved, it's not hard to speculate.
Also, he was found to have not eaten recently, hut no indications of being dehydrated.
I read in another article that the dog that died had recently come back from a medical procedure at the vet, and was being kept in a crate. The two that survived had access to a dog door so presumably were able to get food/water outside.
Wasn't dog in a crate? Possibly died due to lack of water and food?
Dog was in the bathroom closet.
This is a whole lot of messed up. Honestly didn't know the situation with Gene as he had faded from popularity and was obviously getting on in age. Just thinking of that situation though, absolutely horrible. The only thing I can hope is that Gene was far enough gone he didn't realize his wife was dead, but even then. Just alone and scared for a week.
Not only alone and scared, probably also hungry and thirsty. Poor guy. What a tragic ending.
My radio news this morning said he was quite possibly far enough gone.
I’m wondering if he spent days unconscious after some cardiac event, before finally dying.
So he was alone in the house for a week, while suffering Alzheimer?!
That's absolutely horrible.
Not technically alone but if he had advanced enough in the disease, he would probably not notice that anything has happened...
Or he found his wife dead multiple times and by the time he could get to a phone to call for help he'd forgotten why he needed the phone.
It would have been too advanced for him to think of the phone in the first place at that point.
We’ve dealt with terminal Alzheimer’s in my family and it’s crazy that the only viable death is starvation/dehydration even in a care facility on hospice.
One week would have been a huge relief compared to the years of wasting, basically forced eating, and decline that we had to witness with my MIL. She couldn’t even smile for the last year and a half or more. We need end of life laws and to respect DNR paperwork much more proactively.
The same happened to my grandfather. I'll absolutely off myself if I ever get diagnosed.
I had thought of that possibility and decided to go with the happier option. I also don't want to think too hard about the entire probable series of events. Surface level is sad enough
His wife was young enough that it probably never occurred to her to have a back-up plan for his care or general wellness checks. Absolutely awful.
Let this be a lesson for everyone, no matter how young one is, always have a backup plan for the care of people that's important to you, and for yourself.
My mum's next door neighbour is a 70 something man. His wife was 50 something. They had talked about how he would be the first to go and planned accordingly. She then died suddenly. Life takes unexpected turns.
To add a note, they're famously private people, hence living out there in the first place. It's not that unusual to go unnoticed when you live on a gated compound and don't like socializing with your neighbors. From what I could tell they didn't even know who those two were.
If any good comes of this, it will be raising awareness.
It doesn't cost you anything to check in on your neighbors.
Elderly people should really not be alone at all. The American family model is not healthy.
65 isn't really "elderly". She just had bad luck, contracting a rare disease.
The problem is not her age but the lack of contingency planning - this actually happens a lot in industrial nations. The caring partner has an accident or a sudden medical illness and the person cared for dies of the lack of care.
The easiest form of backup is someone checking in regularly by phone - if the relatives (Hackman had three children and at least one granddaughter - but it seems they were estranged) or friends can form some form of habit to call each on a different day and act if none picks up unexpectedly, most of these cases can be effectivly solved.
But additional options exist: Modern medical alarm systems can be programmed to have a "death man switch" - if a certain key is not pressed once or twice a day the system sends out an alarm to the alarm company and they try to get a voice contact. For carers of bed bound patients (with no large pets - so not applicable here) the option to use a motion detector in a hallway exists - instead of the button the system sends out an alarm when none is moving in the hallway for a certain amount of time,which means something is wrong with the carer.
Lately there are ambient assisted living (basically smarthome) systems that can be used as well - e.g. you can hook up a sensor to the microwave and cutlery drawer. Neither has been opened by 2pm? So none had breakfast or lunch and something is wrong. Etc. etc.
In the end people need to plan ahead - and that is the problem. Because by doing so they must submit to their own mortality and we don't like that.
In 22 years in healthcare I had my fair share of these cases. Most end well, but only go on our nerves as paramedics (and nurses),because it's a really big problem if you have a patient who is the carer of someone who can't stay at home alone, and the patient needs urgent transport. (We can't simply take them with us most of the time)
But just to give you a few examples of cases I remember:
-
The 45 y/o lady who basically died of thirst fully conscious - She was a quadriplegic, her husband was a bit older and seemed to have suffered a sudden cardiac arrest while caring for her, ripping of her communication computer of her bed while going down. She was still alive when found, but sadly we couldn't save her, organs and brain were to far gone. That one really left a mark in my brain.
-
The 80 year old lady who was mobile but had heavy Alzheimer and ran away (possibly to find help,not totally known) after her partner was unable to get up for 36h after an fall resulting in a broken hip. He literally saw her walking out but couldn't stop her. She was found 4 weeks later, in a creek.
-
The 90 year old who died of thirst and hunger after his somewhat wife died during the night. He made notes on a piece of paper about the dates... But was unable to summon help due to being bed bound. Especially bad as he had a system in place - their daughter called every day - but she had a horrific accident on "day one" and was in coma.
Anyway. It's a horrific way to go. Talk to your elderly relatives and neighbours.
Damn!
load more comments
(1 replies)
load more comments
(2 replies)
Damn, that's terrible... Did they not have family or someone to check in on them regularly? I guess if she was 65, they thought he was in good hands...
I don't know how easy it is to contact hantavirus. Does it take one rat or a lot?
Just a tiny bit of infected rat shit.
Actually the most common way is through aerosolized particles, meaning there is a ton of rat shit and piss somewhere in your living space (like an attic or crawlspace) and it gets into your air supply. Far less commonly but still possibly it can be through direct exposure to feces and urine, or even more rarely through a scratch/bite
Despite this it’s astoundingly rare. 20-50 cases annually for the entirety of the USA and less than 1000 from 1993-2022
view more: next ›