United States: A medical examination confirmed that the late actor Gene Hackman suffered from atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and advanced Alzheimer’s disease at the time of his death, whereas medical authorities indicated he lost his wife through “hantavirus pulmonary syndrome” (HPS). 

About Hantaviruses 

According to molecular virologist Dr. Rhys Parry at the University of Queensland in Australia, hantaviruses represent a virus group that spreads primarily through rodents to produce serious respiratory and renal illnesses in humans. 

HPS is a condition that Hackman’s wife contracted from one of the many hantaviruses discovered in North, Central, and South America, as stated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 

According to the CDC, “The hantaviruses that are found throughout the United States are not known to spread between people,” Fox News reported. 

For patients who become infected with HPS, this disease leads to the death of approximately 40% of them, based on information from the cited source. 

How does the disease spread? 

“Hantaviruses typically spread when humans breathe in virus particles from disturbed rodent urine, droppings or nesting materials,” as Parry noted. 

The CDC has recognized various patterns through which this pathogen spreads. 

Human beings risk infection from hantaviruses through contact with dusty airborne rodent waste during cleanup activities. 

The disease spreads when people handle contaminated objects and place their hands on their mouth or nose. 

A person can develop an infection by allowing rodents to bite or scratch them, as Fox News reported. 

When people consume food that contains hantavirus microorganisms. 

What more are the experts stating? 

According to Dr. Marc Siegel, who holds the position of clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone Health and serves as a Fox News senior medical analyst, hantavirus transmission occurs through rodent-derived dust that also contains saliva and urine and pathogen contact areas. 

According to the doctor, deer mice are the primary carriers of this virus throughout the United States. 

Most hantavirus cases occur in rural zones because the Centers for Disease Control observes rodents more readily enter houses and barns in those locations. 

Hantavirus infections are “incredibly rare,” according to both the experts. 

“This is a pretty sad set of circumstances,” Parry mentioned. 

“I’m honestly impressed they were able to determine it was HPS after the fact,” he noted. 

Furthermore, as Siegal maintained, the disease rarely affects humans “because only some of the rodents have it, and they don’t all come into contact — but one-third to one-half of cases are fatal.” 

United States: Scientific proof disproving vaccine-autism connections did not halt the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from investigating potential vaccine-caused autism. 

More about the news 

Records show that Trump administration officials sent the study request to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Before his time as president, Donald Trump, alongside his HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., advocated that vaccines triggered autism despite scientific evidence refuting this claim for countless years. 

According to HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon, “As President Trump said in his Joint Address to Congress, the rate of autism in American children has skyrocketed. CDC will leave no stone unturned in its mission to figure out what exactly is happening. The American people expect high quality research and transparency and that is what CDC is delivering,” US News reported. 

The rates of autism diagnosis have shown substantial growth throughout recent decades. 

The United States currently reports that one out of thirty-six children receives an autism diagnosis, while eleven states show data indicating that autism affected one out of 150 children back in the year 2000. 

Experimental data and revisions to diagnostic categories made by physicians explain most of the detected increase in autism spectrum disorders. 

Factors impacting autism 

Scientists continue research to uncover whether genes and environmental elements influence autism development. 

Most scientific experts unanimously agree that autism does not arise from vaccine administration. A vast amount of research involving hundreds of thousands of children has disproved this connection. 

Scientific evidence from 2019 research involving half a million Danish children proved that the measles mumps, along with the rubella MMR vaccine, fail to create autism risk, according to The Washington Post. 

A discredited 1998 paper created the incorrect link between MMR vaccines and autism, even though the connection turned out to be false. 

The journal article led by Dr. Andrew Wakefield later led to his medical license revocation after documentation proved his professional misconduct, as reported by The Post. 

Experts argue that performing another study on this matter is both superfluous and unprofessional. 

United States: Doctors from New Mexico State Health announced an unvaccinated adult became infected with measles before passing away. 

The patient would become the second measles fatality of 2025, thus representing the second American measles death in ten years next to an unvaccinated school-aged person who passed away during late February within the West Texas outbreak area, causing 160 identified infections. 

More about the news 

The recent measles outbreak has reached its largest dimensions in the United States since 2019 and is spreading to eastern New Mexico. 

The deceased New Mexico resident did not receive medical attention prior to death, and doctors confirmed their body contained measles virus infections through laboratory tests, according to state Health Department news statements, as USA Today reported. 

A review of the deceased individual’s death exists as part of the investigation process. Additional details regarding the deceased person remained undisclosed by state health officials even though healthcare authorities stated this new case did not belong to their previously identified nine individuals. 

What are the officials stating? 

New Mexico Health Department spokesperson David Morgan indicated that the state had not suffered from measles fatalities in at least 40 years based on CDC records, which started in 1985. 

According to Dr. Chad Smelser, the deputy state epidemiologist for New Mexico’s health department, “We don’t want to see New Mexicans getting sick or dying from measles,” USA Today reported. 

“The measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine is the best protection against this serious disease,” he continued. 

The complete New Mexico measles patient population consists of six grown-up patients and four adolescent patients under 17 years, and it exists within Lea County near Texas’ Gaines County. 

At least 22 patients need hospitalization at facilities across Texas. 

The New Mexico New Mexico resident who died was the tenth case from the state; however, they were the only patients from the Nm cases who passed away, while every other case didn’t need hospital admission. 

.