Nobody wakes up excited to caulk a garage baseboard on a Saturday, yet that is the kind of chore the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) keeps pointing to when it talks about hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) prevention in the United States. CDC’s prevention materials describe illness that can follow exposure to rodents and to their urine, droppings, and nesting materials. The agency’s practical advice clusters around a few themes: keep rodents from getting inside, reduce populations where it is safe and legal to do so, and clean contaminated spaces without blasting invisible particles into the air you breathe.
Seal, trap, and reduce welcome mats for rodents
CDC groups prevention steps under ideas like sealing gaps where rodents enter, using trapping where appropriate, and removing food and nesting sites that invite rodents into homes, sheds, cabins, and worksites. The goal is not cartoon perfection. The goal is fewer close encounters with wild rodent waste in places where people sleep, cook, or spend long hours. Seasonal cabin owners, field biologists, construction crews reopening a long-closed building, and disaster cleanup volunteers all land in CDC’s imagined audience because they share one trait: they disturb spaces that mice or rats may have treated like a private hotel.
Cleaning: wet it first, skip the reckless vacuuming
CDC emphasizes avoiding vacuuming or sweeping dry rodent waste before wetting and disinfecting according to CDC cleanup instructions. That line matters because hantavirus transmission in the United States is often framed around aerosols created when people stir up dust in enclosed areas. The emotional story is dramatic; the engineering fix is almost insultingly plain: dampen material, disinfect with products and steps CDC lists, wear protective equipment when CDC says to, and ventilate when it is safe. CDC also links broader rodent cleanup guidance for people who need a full checklist after a heavier infestation.
Consumer brochure you can print or hand to a landlord
CDC hosts a PDF brochure titled “You Can Prevent Hantavirus” using a January 2025 revision path on CDC’s site. The brochure is meant to restate the same prevention themes for anyone who lives, works, or spends time where wild rodents may be present. If you manage a rental property, a scout camp, or a community center in a rural county, keeping that PDF on a shared drive can be more useful than another long thread in a neighborhood chat.
How this connects to the rest of this site
For a step-by-step safety guide written for general readers, open How to stay safe. For how U.S. case counts are built from surveillance rules, see How hantavirus disease is reported in the United States.
Research note
This article reflects CDC’s prevention landing page, CDC’s rodent cleanup guidance linked from that ecosystem, and the brochure file path CDC labels with January 2025, all as retrieved on 11 May 2026. CDC may update PDFs and web pages after publication.
Frequently asked questions
Why does CDC warn against vacuuming dry rodent droppings?
CDC warns against vacuuming or sweeping dry rodent waste before wetting and disinfecting because those actions can create dust people may inhale. CDC directs readers to follow its cleanup instructions so contaminated material is handled with less airborne risk.
Where can I find CDC’s printable prevention brochure?
CDC hosts “You Can Prevent Hantavirus” as a PDF brochure. The file path on CDC’s site includes January 2025, which is the revision timing CDC lists for that document.
Does prevention only matter in rural states?
CDC frames prevention around settings where wild rodents may be present, which can include rural cabins, sheds, outbuildings, and other spaces where rodents find shelter. The relevant question is whether wild rodents have been active in that space, not whether a ZIP code looks rural on a map.
Is rodent cleanup guidance only on the hantavirus section of CDC.gov?
CDC links broader guidance on how to clean up after rodents through its rodent control materials, which connect to the same prevention themes. Use the CDC pages linked below so you are following the version CDC intended for public use.