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HEALTH

The Claim

As of May 7, 2026, the case-fatality rate of Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome in the United States is about 35%.

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The Short Version

The best U.S. evidence places HPS case-fatality in the mid-to-high 30s, so “about 35%” is broadly accurate. A 1993–2024 summary reports 34.9%, while CDC public-facing materials often round higher, to roughly 38–40%. The claim is reasonable as an approximation, but it understates the higher figure often used by CDC.

Caveats

  • CDC sources do not present one single number; public guidance often says roughly 38–40%, while surveillance summaries can be closer to 35%.
  • Some CDC pages report broader “hantavirus disease” data rather than HPS-only data, so denominators and labels are not always identical.
  • Annual case-fatality rates can swing because U.S. hantavirus case counts are small; long-run cumulative estimates are more reliable than single-year snapshots.

The Receipts

  1. Clinician Brief: Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS) - CDC

    CDC

  2. Mortality in the United States, 2024 - CDC

    CDC

  3. About Hantavirus - CDC

    CDC

  4. Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS) 2015 Case Definition | CDC

    CDC

  5. Reported Cases of Hantavirus Disease - CDC

    CDC

  6. Twenty-Year Summary of Surveillance for Human Hantavirus ... - PMC

    PMC

  7. Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome, United States, 1993–2009 - PMC

    PMC

  8. Hantavirus

    WHO

  9. Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome — United States

    CDC MMWR

  10. Recent outbreaks of hantavirus-a very lethal and zoonotic virus - PMC

    PubMed Central

+ 6 more sources — see the full list on Lenz

Filed Under

Centers for Disease Control and PreventionHantavirus Pulmonary SyndromeUnited States

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