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PeakMetrics / Fact Checks

Health & medicine fact checks

Explore claims publishers have checked about health & medicine. Read their original ratings and follow the evidence.

13,669 published reviews in this topic

dpaHealth & medicine

In Italien haben diverse schwere Erkrankungen seit Jahresbeginn stark zugenommen.

Publisher’s rating: Die Zahlen lassen sich aus keinen offiziellen Daten ableiten und sind offenbar frei erfunden.

The fact-check investigated an Austrian social-media post that attributed dramatic increases in illnesses and deaths to Italy. The post claimed, among other figures, that miscarriages had risen by 279 percent, heart attacks by 269 percent and pulmonary embolisms by 458 percent. It also gave large increases for ovarian dysfunction, breast cancer and multiple sclerosis. The post did not specify the period behind most of these figures, beyond referring to a period in 2022. The review compared the post’s figures with official data from Italy’s national statistics institute, ISTAT. It notes that the post’s claim that 80 percent of the population was vaccinated was approximately consistent with official vaccination figures, but says the other purported statistics had little or no basis. The review also points to ISTAT’s recorded total of 530,145 deaths in the first nine months of 2022—about 4,500 fewer than in the same period of 2021—as evidence inconsistent with the alleged surge in heart attacks. The post further claimed 548,000 “sudden unexpected deaths” in the first three quarters of 2022. The review says that figure exceeded the total number of deaths recorded by the end of September, making it impossible on the cited data. It also notes that the post did not define “sudden and unexpected” or provide evidence connecting the alleged deaths to vaccination.

FACTLYHealth & medicine

‘Yakumi Plus Effervescent tablets’ are FDA approved and are effective in treating acid reflux and other gastrointestinal diseases

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The review examined a social-media advertisement claiming that Yakumi Plus Effervescent tablets are FDA-approved and treat acid reflux and other gastrointestinal diseases. It reports that a search of the FDA-approved-drugs database found no medicine by that name. This is the review’s stated basis for concluding the product is not FDA-approved; the excerpt does not describe any broader investigation of FDA records.

El Detector / Univision NoticiasHealth & medicine

Los vacunados contra el covid-19 se convierten en personas “transgénicas”.

Publisher’s rating: Falso

The claim concerns a statement by Argentine doctor Chinda Brandolino that COVID-19 vaccination makes people “transgenic.” The review says she made the statement in June 2021 during a conference held by Médicos por la Verdad, and that a video of her presentation was circulating again on Instagram in December 2022. The article explains that “transgenic” here means artificially altering an organism by incorporating DNA sequences from another species; it reports that Brandolino did not present scientific evidence for her assertion. To assess the claim, the article distinguishes the way transgenic organisms are produced from how COVID-19 vaccines work. It cites the U.S. National Human Genome Research Institute’s description of introducing foreign DNA into a fertilized egg, and notes that none of the COVID-19 vaccines intervenes in or modifies DNA, citing CDC guidance. The article also reports that a CDC document from September 2022 says the vaccines neither affect nor interact with DNA because they do not enter the cell nucleus where DNA is located. The review addresses both vaccine types referenced in the claim. It says mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna provide instructions for producing a coronavirus-like protein, and that the mRNA does not enter the cell nucleus. For adenovirus-vector vaccines, such as Johnson & Johnson’s, it says the vector delivers instructions but lacks the machinery to integrate its genetic material into human DNA. The article also cites CDC guidance that the body discards vaccine ingredients after an immune response develops. These explanations directly address the proposed mechanism behind the claim; the review reports no evidence that vaccination turns people into transgenic organisms.

Factcrescendo Sri LankaHealth & medicine

ජංගම දුරකථන රිචාර්ජ් කාඩ්පත නිසා ඔබට චර්ම පිළිකා අවදානමක් නැත!

Publisher’s rating: False

The review examines a social-media warning that scratching the silver-colored coating on a mobile recharge card with a fingernail could cause skin cancer. The warning attributed the danger to a supposed substance called “silver nitro oxide.” The investigation focused on whether that substance is present in the card coating and whether the cancer warning is supported by evidence.

dpaHealth & medicine

COVID-19 is hetzelfde als de griep, want er is nu één test voor beide.

Publisher’s rating: COVID-19 en de griep zijn twee verschillende luchtwegaandoeningen, veroorzaakt door twee verschillende virussen; respectievelijk een coronavirus en een influenzavirus. Tests die op meerdere ziektes tegelijk testen zijn niet nieuw.

The claim arose in posts reacting to tests that can check for COVID-19 and influenza together. The review says some people interpreted the combined test as evidence that the illnesses were the same, but explains that a single test’s ability to detect multiple infections does not establish that they are one disease. The review distinguishes the illnesses by their causes: COVID-19 is caused by SARS-CoV-2, a coronavirus, while flu is caused by influenza viruses, usually type A or B. It reports that tests for these viruses existed separately and that they were also made available in a combined format. The FDA had authorized such a joint test in July 2020. The review describes this as a practical way to test one sample for more than one virus, not as evidence that the viruses or diseases are identical. It also examines the test packaging circulated online. The instructions for the Fanttest kit list separate performance characteristics for COVID-19, influenza A and influenza B, and depict the COVID-19 and flu tests alongside one another in a plastic cassette. The review notes that another manufacturer, Roche, used the same strip for both tests but said they detect different antigens from SARS-CoV-2 and influenza A and B. Similar symptoms do not make the diseases the same; the review also notes that severe illness occurs more often with COVID-19.

dpaHealth & medicine

Virologe Kekulé deckt Impflüge auf.

Publisher’s rating: Hier ist der Kontext wichtig. Im Podcast weist Kekulé auf methodische Probleme der Untersuchung hin und sagt, dass die Impfung «überhaupt nichts» bringe, sei hier «nicht belegt». Man müsse überlegen, wo «die Limitationen der Studie» seien - der Virologe verweist insbesondere auf die Datengrundlage der Untersuchung. Die Wirksamkeit der Corona-Impfungen ist in vielen anderen Studien belegt worden.