Eggcorn Forum

Hanta Virus is named for the Hantaan River in Korea. It’s related to the Ebola virus and is somewhat haunting in its own right – it occurs in rodent droppings but can subsequently become airborne and then inhaled by humans. While the disease (characterized by dizziness, pulmonary distress, muscle aches and occasionally kidney failure) is relatively rare, many of those who become infected with the virus die.

After subtracting cases of self-conscious word-play, I found only one clear instance each of the “Haunted” and “Haunter” spellings. The “Haunta” variant is far more common (4000 hits), but you could argue that it’s nothing more than a “phonetic” misspelling. This disease was only identified in North America in 1993, and I’m willing to bet that the eggcornish variants of the name will spread as the disease becomes better known and more people learn of it through word-of-mouth. Maybe we can get Dr. Lakritz to keep an ear out for this one. Examples:

the soap wasnt antiviral!! and so i ran to my dad and told him that i was going to die because the antibacterial soap couldnt save me from the Haunted Virus….
http://www.mansonusa.com/council/showth … nextnewest

He told us which tender to use and which not to use, like poison ivy, or a mouse nest, because you can get Haunter virus which effects the kidneys.
http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:2Uj … =clnk&cd=1

Other diseases like Malaria, Rocky Mountain Fever and the Haunta Virus are brought to humans through contact with biting insects or the feces of infected mice.
http://perdurabo10.tripod.com/id325.html