Hantavirus is the same as COVID-19.
They're unrelated viruses with different reservoirs and very different transmission patterns.
You can catch hantavirus from mosquito bites.
No insect spreads hantavirus. Rodent excreta inhalation is the main route.
Hantavirus spreads easily between people.
Person-to-person spread is documented only for the Andes strain, and it requires close, prolonged contact.
If I touch a mouse, I'll get hantavirus.
Brief contact rarely causes infection. Risk is highest from inhaling aerosolized virus from droppings or urine.
There's a vaccine you can ask for.
No widely available vaccine exists for HPS strains (Andes, Sin Nombre) in the Americas.
Antibiotics will cure it.
Hantavirus is a virus — antibiotics don't work. Care is supportive (oxygen, ICU, sometimes ECMO).
Pets transmit hantavirus.
Dogs and cats are not reservoirs. They can, however, bring infected rodents home.
Hantavirus is always fatal.
HPS is serious (~38% case fatality) but survivable with early ICU care. HFRS strains vary widely in severity.
You're safe if you can't see droppings.
Aerosols from older, dried excreta are still infectious. Always ventilate before cleaning closed spaces.
A regular cloth mask protects you.
Use an N95 (or better) when cleaning rodent-infested areas. Cloth masks are insufficient.
Sweeping is fine if you're quick.
Sweeping or vacuuming dry waste aerosolizes virus. Always wet down with disinfectant first.
Bleach doesn't kill hantavirus.
A 1:10 bleach-water solution effectively inactivates hantavirus on surfaces.
Only farmers get hantavirus.
Anyone exposed to rodent excreta — campers, cabin owners, urban dwellers with infestations — is at risk.
Hantavirus is airborne like flu.
It becomes airborne when rodent excreta are disturbed, but does not spread person-to-person through normal breathing (Andes is the rare exception).
Symptoms appear within 24 hours of exposure.
Incubation is 1–8 weeks, most often 2–4 weeks.