{"id":1469989,"date":"2026-05-08T11:34:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T15:34:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/?p=1469989"},"modified":"2026-05-08T13:59:25","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T17:59:25","slug":"hantavirus-outbreak-misinformation-spreads-faster-than-virus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/2026\/05\/08\/hantavirus-outbreak-misinformation-spreads-faster-than-virus\/","title":{"rendered":"I\u2019m fighting misinformation online. False hantavirus claims follow a now-familiar playbook"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I learned about hantavirus misinformation this week in the same way I now learn about most public health misinformation: My <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/epidemiologistkat\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">followers<\/a> sent it to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Within hours of the first headlines about a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.who.int\/emergencies\/disease-outbreak-news\/item\/2026-DON599\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">hantavirus outbreak linked to the expedition cruise ship MV Hondius<\/a>, my DMs started filling with screenshots. One was from the account of a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/MaryBowdenMD\/status\/2052100735462953359?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Texas doctor<\/a> who became well known during Covid for promoting ivermectin. She was already telling followers that ivermectin would work against hantavirus, too.<\/p><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/2026\/05\/08\/hantavirus-outbreak-misinformation-spreads-faster-than-virus\/?utm_campaign=api\">Read the rest\u2026<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The cruise ship hantavirus outbreak is serious but limited. Online, it&#8217;s another story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":784,"featured_media":1468994,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"stat_display_restriction_not_latest":false,"stat_featured_image_caption":"Transmission electron micrograph of two hantaviruses.","stat_featured_image_nocrop":false,"stat_featured_image_focal_point":{"x":0.5,"y":0.5},"stat_article_wordmark_img":[],"stat_article_wordmark_url":"","stat_article_wordmark_height":"125px","stat_article_wordmark_enable":false,"stat_article_subheadline":"Modern health misinformation no longer behaves like a random collection of rumors \u2014 it has an infrastructure ","stat_paywall_restrict":false,"footnotes":"","stat_article_enhanced_byline":"Wallace is an epidemiologist, researcher, and a professor at University of Illinois Chicago School of Public Health.","stat_article_newsletter_id":"first_opinion","stat_article_header_color_scheme":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":43,"stat_paywall_move_flag":0},"categories":[43],"tags":[501,669],"authors":[211308],"class_list":["post-1469989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-first-opinion","tag-infectious-disease","tag-public-health"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/M0500561-Hantaviruses-1024x711.jpg","coauthors":[{"avatar":"","display_name":"Katrine Wallace","author_page":"","first_name":"","title":"","bio":"","email_address":"","email_url":"","twitter_url":"https:\/\/x.com\/DrKatEpi","twitter_handle":"@DrKatEpi","facebook_url":"","linkedin_url":"","web_url":"","bluesky_url":"","bluesky_handle":""}],"stat_card_curation":{"image_id":1468994,"title":"","excerpt":"","video_id":0,"disable_topic_image_curation":false},"template_inline_styles":{"global_styles":":root{--wp--preset--aspect-ratio--square: 1;--wp--preset--aspect-ratio--4-3: 4\/3;--wp--preset--aspect-ratio--3-4: 3\/4;--wp--preset--aspect-ratio--3-2: 3\/2;--wp--preset--aspect-ratio--2-3: 2\/3;--wp--preset--aspect-ratio--16-9: 16\/9;--wp--preset--aspect-ratio--9-16: 9\/16;--wp--preset--color--black: #000000;--wp--preset--color--cyan-bluish-gray: #abb8c3;--wp--preset--color--white: #FFFFFF;--wp--preset--color--pale-pink: #f78da7;--wp--preset--color--vivid-red: #cf2e2e;--wp--preset--color--luminous-vivid-orange: #ff6900;--wp--preset--color--luminous-vivid-amber: 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