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Mpox and infox: WHO alert awakens conspiracy theorists

Broadcast United News Desk
Mpox and infox: WHO alert awakens conspiracy theorists

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Posted on August 23, 2024

Lecture: 3 minutes.

Left-handedAcne epidemic The events unfolding in Africa have triggered another global catastrophe: after the World Health Organization triggered the highest health alert level on August 14, a flood of misinformation has emerged against the backdrop of homophobia and conspiracy theories.

The video has been translated and forwarded exist X and Facebook, available in multiple languages: We see a German doctor known for his anti-vaccine stance who ensures that the symptoms described by Mpox are identical to those of shingles. Wolfgang Wodage says this shingles epidemic is a side effect of the corona vaccine and the pharmaceutical industry just wants to scare people of Business purposes.

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This is wrong: Mpox was discovered in a child in the former Zaire in the 1970s, much earlier than the COVID-19 vaccine. On the other hand, it is a zoonosis, originating from animals and belonging to the poxvirus family, while shingles (a reactivation of the varicella zoster virus) belongs to the herpes family. yes It is also different because shingles causes smaller lesions that produce characteristically severe pain.

2 – Mpox doesn’t just affect gay people

On social networks, some people consoled themselves by confirming that the virus only affects homosexuals and posted homophobic messages, calling these practices “disgusting.”

But as Professor Richard Martinello explained to AFP, Epidemiologist Professor of Yale School of Medicine said: “There is no infectious disease in the world that is transmitted differently due to sexual orientation. Mpox can be transmitted by skin-to-skin contact, not by each person’s sexual orientation. The infected fluid contained in the patient’s blisters spread the virus, recalling Poole Antoine Gessain, a disease expert at the Pasteur Institute: Children can be infected “through skin-to-skin contact”, but as was the case with the epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo at the end of 2023, heterosexuals with multiple sexual partners can also be infected.

3 – There is no magic bullet

A popular conspiracy theory (especially on YouTube and Facebook) explains that the medication for Mpox is so effective that More Not available. This is misinformation based on controversial 2022 statements by Professor Raoult, who said that “the most effective molecule is a Japanese drug called Tranilast. (…) It will never be sold here because it costs nothing.”

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In addition to Tranilast, which was approved in Japan and China in 1982 for the treatment of asthma, no way is the subject of clinical studies in humans against Mpox. Claims of its effectiveness are therefore misleading. On the other hand, vaccination, increased awareness of high-risk groups and isolation of contact cases make it possible to contain the Mpox epidemic in 2022.

4 – No Containment Order

“Be careful, there will be a massive blockade ahead!” warned Internet users, insisting that the measures have summer According to the conspiracy theory, the World Health Organization gave orders to “national governments” to support the argument of a “pandemic,” a new term to describe a carefully planned pandemic.

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The World Health Organization has no authority to ask governments to prepare for these “large-scale lockdowns” or “lockdowns of any kind.” “As a scientific and technical organization, WHO provides advice to all 194 member states. Each country is sovereignty in terms of decisions and actions concerning the health of its people.

In France, on TikTok, netizens even assured that due to the epidemic, “the start of the school year has been postponed”. This news has been officially denied by the Ministry of Education. As of August 21, no cases of acne with the new strain 1b have been reported. this Payment.

(AFP report)

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