Hantavirus FAQ
Frequently asked questions about hantavirus and how Hantascan tracks outbreaks worldwide.
What is hantavirus?+
Hantaviruses are a family of viruses carried by rodents. They can cause two serious diseases in humans: hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS), primarily found in the Americas, and hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS), found mainly in Europe and Asia. Infection typically occurs through breathing in aerosolized particles from rodent urine, droppings, or saliva.
How do you get hantavirus?+
The most common route of infection is inhaling dust contaminated with rodent urine, droppings, or nesting materials. Less common routes include being bitten by an infected rodent or touching contaminated surfaces and then touching the mouth or nose. Certain strains, particularly the Andes virus in South America, have shown limited person-to-person transmission.
Is hantavirus contagious between people?+
Most hantavirus strains are not transmitted between people. The primary exception is the Andes virus (found in Argentina and Chile), which has documented cases of person-to-person spread in close-contact settings. For other strains, rodent exposure remains the only known route of infection.
Where is hantavirus found?+
Hantaviruses exist on every continent except Antarctica. In the Americas, Sin Nombre virus (southwestern U.S.) and Andes virus (southern South America) are the most significant strains. In Europe and Asia, Puumala, Dobrava, Seoul, and Hantaan viruses cause HFRS. The Hantascan map shows currently reported outbreak locations worldwide.
What are the symptoms of hantavirus?+
Early symptoms include fever, severe muscle aches (especially in the thighs, hips, and back), fatigue, headache, dizziness, chills, and nausea. After 4–10 days, late symptoms can appear: coughing, shortness of breath, and fluid in the lungs. HPS can rapidly progress to respiratory failure and is fatal in approximately 36% of cases.
How is hantavirus treated?+
There is no specific antiviral treatment or vaccine for hantavirus. Treatment is supportive — patients with HPS require intensive care with oxygen therapy and mechanical ventilation. Early recognition and hospitalization significantly improve survival. ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) may be used in severe cases.
How can you prevent hantavirus?+
Prevention focuses on reducing rodent contact: seal gaps in buildings, store food in sealed containers, use traps, and clean rodent-contaminated areas with disinfectant while wearing gloves and a mask. Avoid stirring up dust in closed spaces where rodents may have nested. When camping, avoid sleeping on bare ground and keep food sealed.
What is Hantascan?+
Hantascan is a free hantavirus outbreak tracker that maps reported cases and deaths from official public health sources (WHO, CDC, Santé publique France, and Chile's ENO system). The interactive map updates automatically and is available in 20 languages.
How often is the Hantascan map updated?+
The map data refreshes automatically on a regular schedule as new reports are ingested from source agencies. The dashboard shows the timestamp of the most recent data snapshot.
Where does the data come from?+
Hantascan aggregates data from four official sources: WHO Disease Outbreak News, CDC's National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System (NNDSS), France's Odissé platform (Santé publique France), and Chile's ENO mandatory notification system. Data is deduplicated and geocoded before display.
See current hantavirus case data on the live map. Open the hantavirus map →