Experts are sounding the alarm over the spread of a rare, deadly rodent virus that could be the next global pandemic.

Health officials confirmed this week that an employee at Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona had been exposed to hantavirus, a respiratory illness that spreads by inhaling airborne particles released by rodent droppings.

The disease, which killed Gene Hackman’s wife Betsy Arakawa, is so rare in the US that only one or two people die every year, and there have only been around 1,000 cases in the past three decades.

These cases are mostly among farmers, hikers and campers, and homeless populations. 

However, the virus has now been detected in five Arizona residents and four people in Nevada this year alone, suggesting cases could be on the rise. In 2024, there were seven confirmed cases and four deaths. 

The unnamed employee was reportedly exposed to hantavirus while working in the camp’s mule pens, according to a Grand Canyon spokesperson. 

And earlier this year, three people in remote Mammoth Lakes, California, died of hantavirus despite not being ‘engaged in activities typically associated with exposure,’ according to state health officials.  

Though the park employee is expected to make a full recovery, hantavirus can lead to hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS), which causes the lungs to fill with fluid and kills up to 50 percent of patients.  

Betsy Arakawa was found dead in the Santa Fe home she shared with her husband, Gene Hackman, and the mysterious circumstances surrounding their passing gripped the nation’s attention for weeks

An employee at Grand Canyon National Park (pictured here) was exposed to hantavirus, area health officials revealed

To reduce risk of exposure, health officials recommend airing out spaces where mice droppings could be, avoid sweeping droppings, use disinfectant and wipe up debris and wear gloves and a mask. 

Hantaviruses are a group of viruses found worldwide that are spread to people when they inhale aerosolized fecal matter, urine, or saliva from infected rodents.

The disease was first identified in South Korea in 1978 when researchers isolated it from a field mouse. However, it only affects about 40 to 50 Americans each year, mostly in the southwest.

Between 1993 and 2022, 864 cases have been confirmed, the latest available CDC data shows. 

Worldwide, there are about 150,000 to 200,000 cases per year, most of which are in China. 

The rarity of hantavirus in the US is partly because the country has fewer rodent species that the illness can circulate amongst, compared to Asia and Europe, where multiple rodent species act as hosts.

In the US, deer mice are the most common carriers. 

David Quammen, a science writer whose book predicted the Covid-19 pandemic, previously told DailyMail.com an increase in hantaviruses cases could have global implications.

He said: ‘[Hantaviruses] were known from Korea originally, and then they turned up in the Four Corners area of the US back in 1992 and they started killing people. 

‘It wasn’t surprising to find Hantaviruses in the US, as well as in Korea because, again, it’s a global group of viruses.’

Virginia Tech researchers recently found that while deer mice are still the primary reservoir for hantaviruses in North America, the virus is now circulating more widely than previously thought, with antibodies detected in six additional rodent species where they had not been documented before.

Seventy-nine percent of positive blood samples they tested came from deer mice species, but researchers also found that other rodent species had a higher percentage of hantavirus infections than deer mice – between 4.3 and five percent.

The vast majority of human cases are traced back to two or three key deer mouse species, but the study’s findings reveal that the virus is more flexible than scientists once thought, broadening what they know about its basic biology.

Deer mice, pictured here, are the most common carriers of hantavirus in the US

Virginia had the highest infection rate among rodents, with nearly eight percent of samples testing positive for hantavirus – four times the national average of around two percent.

Colorado had the second-highest infection rate, followed by Texas, both known risk regions for the virus, with average positive blood samples more than twice as high as the national average.

Hantavirus symptoms typically show up within one to eight weeks of exposure to infected rodents and include fatigue, fever, muscle aches, headache, dizziness, chills and abdominal or digestive issues. 

After four to 10 days of the early symptoms, patients may experience shortness of breath, chest tightness and fluid in the lungs. 

There is no specific treatment for hantavirus, and patients are instead given supportive therapies like rest, hydration, and breathing support.