Privacy Policy

Last updated: June 2026

Microbeonline.com is an independent clinical microbiology education website operated by Tankeshwar Acharya, Lalitpur, Nepal. This policy explains what data is collected when you visit this site, who collects it, and what your rights are.

We do not sell your personal data. We do not build advertising profiles. The site exists to support microbiology education, and that is the only purpose data collection serves here.

1. Who This Policy Covers

This policy applies to all visitors to microbeonline.com, regardless of where you are located. If you are visiting from the European Economic Area (EEA), the United Kingdom, or any other region with data protection law, the same commitments apply to you.

2. What Data Is Collected and By Whom

2.1 Google Analytics

This site uses Google Analytics to understand how visitors use the site — which articles are read, how long visitors stay, which countries they visit from, and what devices they use. This helps us improve content and prioritise topics that are most useful to readers.

Google Analytics collects:

Pages visited and time spent on each page
General geographic location (country and city level)
Device type, browser, and operating system
Referral source (how you arrived at the site)

Google Analytics does not collect your name, email address, or any directly identifying information. IP addresses are anonymised before storage.

Data collected by Google Analytics is processed by Google LLC under their own privacy policy, available at policies.google.com/privacy. Google may transfer this data to servers outside your country.

You can opt out of Google Analytics tracking across all websites by installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.

This site displays advertisements served by Google AdSense. Google uses cookies and similar technologies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this site and other sites on the internet.

AdSense may collect:

Your IP address
Browser and device information
Browsing behaviour across websites that use Google advertising services

Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads based on your visit to this site. You can opt out of personalised advertising by visiting Google's Ad Settings or by visiting aboutads.info.

Full details of how Google uses data from advertising partners is available at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.

Some pages on this site include social sharing buttons or embedded content from third-party platforms (such as YouTube or Twitter/X). These elements are served directly from those platforms and may collect data about you independently of Microbeonline, even if you do not click on them.

We do not control what data these third parties collect. Their respective privacy policies govern their data practices:

Twitter/X: twitter.com/privacy
YouTube/Google: policies.google.com/privacy

Where possible, we use privacy-enhanced embed modes that limit data collection until you interact with embedded content.

2.4 Contact Form

If you contact us through the site's contact form, we collect your name, email address, and the content of your message. This information is used only to respond to your enquiry and is not shared with third parties or used for any other purpose.

3. Cookies

Cookies are small text files stored in your browser. This site uses the following categories of cookies:

Strictly necessary cookies — Set by the site itself to ensure basic functionality. These cannot be disabled.

Analytics cookies — Set by Google Analytics to collect anonymised usage data as described in section 2.1 above.

Advertising cookies — Set by Google AdSense to serve and measure advertisements as described in section 2.2 above.

Third-party cookies — Set by social share buttons and embedded content as described in section 2.3 above.

Most browsers allow you to control cookies through their settings. Disabling analytics and advertising cookies will not affect your ability to read any content on this site.

4. Comments

The site does not currently have an active comment system. If a comment facility is reintroduced in the future, this policy will be updated to explain what data is collected and how it is handled before that system goes live.

5. How Long Data Is Retained

Data collected by Google Analytics and Google AdSense is retained according to Google's own data retention policies, which you can review at support.google.com/analytics/answer/7667196.

Messages sent through the contact form are retained only as long as necessary to address your enquiry and are then deleted.

6. Your Rights

Depending on where you are located, you may have the following rights regarding your personal data:

The right to access the personal data held about you
The right to request correction of inaccurate data
The right to request deletion of your data
The right to object to or restrict certain processing
The right to withdraw consent at any time where processing is based on consent

For data processed by Google (Analytics and AdSense), requests should be directed to Google directly via their privacy tools at myaccount.google.com.

For any data held directly by Microbeonline (contact form messages), requests can be sent to us through the contact form. We will respond within 30 days.

7. Children's Privacy

This site is an educational resource intended for students and professionals in higher education and healthcare. It is not directed at children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children.

8. Links to Other Websites

Articles on this site may link to external websites, including journal publishers, institutional pages, and reference sources. Once you leave microbeonline.com, this privacy policy no longer applies. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of external sites.

9. Changes to This Policy

This policy will be updated if the site's data practices change materially, including if a comment system is reintroduced, a newsletter is launched, or new third-party services are embedded. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page will reflect the most recent revision. Continued use of the site after a policy update constitutes acceptance of the revised terms.

10. Contact

If you have a question about this privacy policy or how your data is handled, please use the contact form on this site.

Microbeonline.com is operated by Tankeshwar Acharya, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Patan Academy of Health Sciences, Lalitpur, Nepal.