Fake news is prevalent on social networks

World Health Organization (WHO) The highest international alert level was triggered on Wednesday The African continent faces a resurgence of cases of mpox (formerly known as “monkeypox”). Since the beginning of the year, the disease has killed at least 548 people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the country most affected, and is currently considered a “public health emergency of international concern”. A few hours later, the first case was detected in Sweden in Europe, and then this Friday in Pakistan.

This was enough to cause a reaction in the conspiracy sphere on social networks, where false information about MPOX has been spreading for several days.

COVID-19 vaccine in viewfinder

“So their monkeypox is going to be an AstraZeneca ingredient,” reads one conspiracy theory story on X, suggesting the vaccine could cause monkeypox.

This conspiracy theory has already appeared in 2022 and has no basis at all We explain this to you in this articleThe chimpanzee adenovirus is completely different from the virus that causes MPOX and only delivers Covid-19’s DNA during vaccination. This adenovirus is also used in other vaccines.

Not enough cases?

A chart from the World in Data shared on X also caused a lot of reaction. It shows that the number of cases detected worldwide in recent weeks is far lower than the number of patients recorded when the World Health Organization issued its first monkeypox alert in the spring of 2022. “What do you see? Is this really a global emergency? What’s going on?” asked one user.

However, this chart does not reflect the reality in Africa, where cases are increasing. In addition, the World Health Organization said in its latest situation report on August 12 that “the number of confirmed cases is underestimated” due to limited testing access in rural areas of West Africa.

Moreover, the number of global cases does not necessarily need to be higher than the number recorded two years ago for the World Health Organization to deem it necessary to trigger the alarm. “The resurgence of monkeypox (mpox) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and a growing number of African countries constitutes a public health emergency of international concern,” the agency said on Wednesday.

Intox around the new confinement period

Other Internet users assured that health and political authorities will use the disease to impose new restrictions on the population. “Showing pustules to sick people is much more terrible than a simple flu like COVID-19! Experts with twisted and evil minds are using the visual impact of monkeypox to force people to accept quarantine and vaccination,” claims one widely followed conspiracy theory.

Florian PhilippThe Patriots founder, who has become one of the most influential figures in conspiracy circles during the Covid-19 pandemic, also released a video on the subject, arguing that the World Health Organization sounded the alarm in mid-summer for “two reasons: to reactivate the global pandemic treaty” and to “launch a global health passport.”

Finally, many netizens believe that the authorities aim to instill fear in order to help the pharmaceutical industry sell vaccines they believe are dangerous. During Covid-19, many theories have flourished through the fear caused by the pandemic.