Evidence-based answers to your most important hantavirus questions
Corrections Policy
We are committed to factual accuracy. When we get something wrong, we correct it promptly and transparently.
Our commitment to accuracy
HantavirusQuestions.com draws on CDC, WHO, NIH, and peer-reviewed literature as primary sources.
All clinical content is reviewed monthly against current authority guidance using an automated
process that checks for direct factual contradictions. Despite these measures, errors can occur.
When a factual error is identified — whether by a reader, a clinician, or our own review process —
we correct it as quickly as possible. We do not silently remove incorrect content; we replace it
with the accurate information and note the correction where the change is material.
What qualifies as a correction
A correction applies to factual claims that are:
Directly contradicted by current CDC, WHO, or peer-reviewed source material
Based on data that has since been superseded (e.g., updated case counts, revised treatment guidelines)
Inaccurately attributed to a source
Materially misleading in a way that could affect health decisions
Corrections do not apply to editorial judgments, matters of interpretation where reasonable
sources disagree, or content that is a matter of emphasis rather than fact.
How to submit a correction
If you believe a page contains a factual error, please contact us with:
The URL of the page containing the error
The specific claim you believe is incorrect
A link to the authoritative source (CDC, WHO, peer-reviewed journal) that contradicts it
We review all correction submissions and respond within 5 business days. If the error is confirmed,
we update the page and note when the correction was made.
Automated monthly review
In addition to reader-submitted corrections, all clinical pages are reviewed automatically on the
first of each month. This process fetches current CDC and WHO guidance, compares it against page
content, and applies corrections where authority sources directly contradict a specific claim.
The "Last reviewed" date on each page reflects the most recent review, whether automated or manual.
Found an error? Please contact us — we take every submission seriously.
The record: every correction made to this site
11 entries are logged for HantavirusQuestions.com, plus 1 applied across the whole network — each traceable
to the change that made it.
That includes 1 case where a correction was itself wrong and had to be undone. The least flattering entries are the point of publishing this.
What was published: The site stated in several places that no hantavirus vaccine is approved for human use anywhere in the world, and elsewhere described the Korean and Chinese products only as having "mixed effectiveness data."
What it says now: Inactivated whole-virus vaccines against Hantaan or Seoul virus are licensed for human use in the Republic of Korea and in China; published reviews describe their protective efficacy as uncertain (Liu et al., Front Microbiol 2020, doi:10.3389/fmicb.2019.02989; Chai et al., Vaccines 2025, doi:10.3390/vaccines13020198). Every instance now states the accurate position: no hantavirus vaccine is licensed in the United States or Europe, and none exists anywhere for Sin Nombre or Andes virus. The instruction block in the site's automated monthly-review script was carrying the same wrong assertion and was updated in the same change.
Corrected
Environmental survival times for hantavirus (transmission and FAQ pages)
What was published: A table gave survival times by environment — days to weeks indoors, hours in direct sunlight, minutes after disinfection — with no source, and the FAQ repeated them.
What it says now: Replaced with the published laboratory measurements and their stated conditions: Puumala virus infectious in soiled rodent bedding for 12-15 days at room temperature, 5-11 days in cell-culture fluid at room temperature and up to 18 days at 4C, inactivated within 24 hours at 37C (Kallio et al., J Gen Virol 2006, doi:10.1099/vir.0.81643-0); Hantaan virus infectious for 96 days in wet suspension at 4C and sharply reduced by drying (Hardestam et al., Appl Environ Microbiol 2007, doi:10.1128/AEM.02869-06). No equivalent study exists for Sin Nombre virus, and the pages now say so.
Corrected
Americas case figures and U.S. state counts (outbreaks page)
What was published: Country rows for the Americas gave approximate ranges with no source (for example "about 100 to 150" cases for Argentina), and the U.S. table gave rounded state figures against a cumulative total described as "over 850."
What it says now: Replaced with PAHO's published 2025 figures through epidemiological week 47 (229 cases and 59 deaths across eight countries, 25.7% regional case-fatality rate) and with our tabulation of CDC's patient-level case file (890 cases, 309 deaths, state-level counts and rates). CDC's weekly NNDSS tables were added for 2024-2026, which the consumer page does not cover.
Corrected
El Nino research citation (outbreaks page)
What was published: The link between El Nino events and subsequent hantavirus case surges was attributed to "research published in the journal Science," with no citation.
What it says now: Attributed to Hjelle B and Glass GE, J Infect Dis 2000;181(5):1569-1573 (doi:10.1086/315467), which reports a five-fold rise above baseline in Four Corners cases in 1998-99 following the 1997-98 El Nino. We could not locate a paper in Science supporting the original attribution.
Corrected
Respirator recommendation attributed to OSHA (prevention page)
What was published: The occupational-safety section stated that OSHA recommends employer-provided N95 respirators or better for agricultural, forestry and construction workers in endemic areas.
What it says now: We could not verify that recommendation in an OSHA document. Replaced with CDC's own published guidance for occupational rodent clean-up: coveralls, boots or shoe covers, gloves, goggles and a HEPA-filtered half-mask or powered air-purifying respirator, with the state pulmonary-function and fit-testing requirements that apply before respirator work begins.
What was published: The page stated that "published clinical guidance recommends follow-up renal function monitoring for at least one year post-hospitalization for severe HFRS cases."
What it says now: No CDC, WHO or ECDC guideline making that recommendation could be located. The sentence was removed rather than left standing on an unverifiable attribution, and replaced with CDC's published statement that complete recovery from HFRS can take several weeks to months.
Corrected
Revenue disclosure (How We Research page)
What was published: The page stated that the site "generates revenue through two disclosed mechanisms" and described Amazon Associates commissions and Google AdSense advertising as live.
What it says now: Both are switched off network-wide and have been since before September 2026; the About page already said so and this page had not been updated. It now states that the site earns nothing, that both mechanisms are registered but inactive, and that any change will be published on the day it happens.
Corrected
MV Hondius outbreak figures (5 pages)
What was published: The 2026 Andes virus cruise-ship figures were attributed to WHO Disease Outbreak News 2026-DON599 — the initial notice, which does not carry those figures.
What it says now: Re-attributed to the WHO Disease Outbreak News edition that actually publishes them. The figures themselves were already correct; the citation pointed at the wrong document.
What was published: The dilution was published as 1 part bleach to 9 parts water, then changed to 1:10 on the basis of a CDC citation.
What it says now: Reverted to 1:9. Re-checking found the current CDC consumer cleanup page specifies 1 part bleach to 9 parts water, so the "correction" had introduced the error. The live pages state 1:9.
What was published: ECMO centres were described as seeing ">70%" survival in severe hantavirus pulmonary syndrome.
What it says now: Approximately 60–66% at near-100% predicted mortality, per Dietl et al., J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg (2008) — 60.5%, PubMed 18329474. The overstatement recurred in several places and each instance was tracked down.
Change: PRs #158–160
Corrected
MV Hondius case count
What was published: The page reported "six confirmed cases across 23 countries." Both numbers were wrong — the "23" was a corruption of the 23% case-fatality rate.
What it says now: 13 cases (12 confirmed, 1 probable) and 3 deaths, per WHO.
Change: PRs #158–160
Correctednetwork-wide
Third-party news summaries
What was published: Stored news items reproduced verbatim summary text from New York Times and BBC articles.
What it says now: All 42 stored summaries were removed retroactively across the news and archive sections of every spoke, and a headline-only policy adopted for those publishers going forward.
Entries begin in July 2026, when the network moved to a single repository and changes became
individually traceable. Earlier corrections were not logged in a citable form and are not
reconstructed from memory. The full network-wide log, including corrections on the other
sites, is on VirusQuestions.com.
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