Ms. Arakawa, the wife of the actor Gene Hackman, died from the effects of a disease often caused by contact with droppings from infected rodents.

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.