Latest updates

Source Methodology and Citation Standards

We prioritize primary public-health evidence and publish with explicit confidence framing to reduce misinformation risk in fast-moving outbreak narratives.

How Evidence Strength Is Used

Source strength affects how a claim is worded. A WHO, CDC, ECDC, PAHO, or national health-authority statement can support direct wording when the page preserves the source date and context. Peer-reviewed literature can support background on symptoms, transmission mechanisms, and clinical patterns, but it does not replace current outbreak guidance when officials update a live investigation.

When evidence is preliminary, conflicting, or based on field reporting, AndesVirus.ai uses cautious language such as reported, under investigation, or officials describe. We avoid converting preliminary reports into settled medical advice, especially for case counts, contagiousness, treatment, severity, or travel-risk conclusions.

Source Hierarchy

  • Tier 1: WHO, CDC, ECDC, PAHO primary outbreak documentation, risk assessments, guidance pages, and surveillance bulletins.
  • Tier 2: Reuters/AP reporting with explicit attribution to primary health authorities.
  • Tier 3: Peer-reviewed journals and PubMed-indexed studies for mechanism and background context.
  • Tier 4: Supplemental explainers only when traceable to higher-tier evidence.

Citation Rules

  • Use direct links to source documents, not only aggregator summaries.
  • Timestamp case counts and transmission claims when values are time-sensitive.
  • Mark uncertainty when evidence is preliminary or conflicting.
  • Remove or revise claims when superseded by newer official guidance.

Unsupported Claims Are Removed

Drafts do not stay live when the source trail is missing, outdated, or materially weaker than the page implies. A health claim may be rewritten, noindexed, consolidated, or removed when it cannot be tied to a reliable source or when another page already answers the same query with stronger evidence and clearer internal links.

See author and reviewer profiles