How We Answer Questions

Step 1 — Identify what is actually being asked

Many virus questions contain hidden complexity. "Is hantavirus contagious?" is really two questions: is it person-to-person transmissible, and is the answer different for Andes virus versus Sin Nombre virus? We start by mapping the question to its variants, then answer each sub-question that has a clear primary-source answer.

Step 2 — Find the primary source

We go directly to the authoritative source — CDC, WHO, FDA, NIH, ECDC, or a peer-reviewed journal. We do not start with Google. We do not start with a Wikipedia article. We do not aggregate from other health websites. Finding the primary source is the first step, not an optional citation after the fact.

If a primary source does not exist for a given claim — no CDC page, no WHO guidance, no peer-reviewed study — the claim is not published. This is the single most important rule in this network's methodology.

Step 3 — Read the source in full

We read the relevant sections of primary sources in their entirety, not just the passage that supports a particular answer. This matters for health content: context determines whether a finding applies to the general public or only to specific populations, whether it reflects current guidance or older data, and whether the source itself flags exceptions or limitations.

Step 4 — Write the answer, then cite it

Answers follow an inverted pyramid: the most important, actionable information appears first. Detail and context follow. This structure serves both users in a hurry and those who want depth. Every factual claim has a citation linked inline — not buried in a reference list — so readers can verify what they just read without having to scroll.

Step 5 — State uncertainty explicitly

When science is genuinely uncertain — a novel variant with limited data, conflicting study results, an open epidemiological question — we state the uncertainty rather than selecting the most reassuring or most alarming interpretation. Phrases like "this has not yet been established" and "as of [date], no data is available" are features, not failures.

Step 6 — Add the disclaimer

Every health page includes an explicit statement that the content is for general educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. For questions where a healthcare provider consultation is specifically relevant — symptoms that require evaluation, exposure situations that require guidance, treatment options that require clinical assessment — the "consult a provider" instruction appears in the body of the answer, not just the boilerplate footer.

What makes a question unanswerable here

Some questions cannot be answered within this methodology. Specifically:

• Personal medical questions — "Do I have hantavirus?" cannot be answered without examination and testing. These are redirected to healthcare providers.
• Novel-variant uncertainty — For truly new situations, if no primary-source data exists yet, the answer is "the data does not yet exist" — not an extrapolation from related strains.
• Politically contested science — Where a genuine scientific consensus exists (vaccine safety, COVID transmission), we represent the consensus. We do not present fringe positions as equivalent to established findings.