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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.

13,672 published reviews in this topic

המשרוקית של גלובסHealth & medicine

מעל ל-70% מהישראלים חלו בקורונה

Publisher’s rating: נכון ברובו

The review assesses a statement by Orit Farkash-Hacohen, made in an interview on Army Radio on April 26, that more than 70% of Israel’s population had contracted COVID-19. The fact-check distinguishes confirmed infections from the larger number of infections that may have gone undetected. Ministry of Health figures showed 4,077,152 unique confirmed cases by May 1, 2022; against a population of about 9.4 million, that was roughly 43%, not more than 70%. The count represented people, not repeat infections in the same person. The review then examined whether unrecorded infections could account for the gap. The ministry said it had no firm estimate beyond the confirmed cases on its dashboard. Farkash-Hacohen’s office referred the review to expert estimates, including that of Weizmann Institute professor Eran Segal. Segal said some estimates based on serological tests suggested that only about half of infections had been identified, making a 70% total a plausible estimate. Serological surveys offered supporting, though not definitive, evidence: a Health Ministry survey in late 2020 estimated infections at about twice the reported count at that time, while a February 2021 Leumit survey found antibodies in 37% of people not recorded as recovered or vaccinated. The evidence therefore did not establish that 70% had been officially diagnosed, nor did the ministry independently confirm that total. Rather, it supported the claim as a reasonable estimate when undetected infections were included. The review also cautioned against treating the estimated infection share as proof of excellent protection: the ministry said protection could weaken over time and might not be sufficient against new variants. The statement combined an estimate about past infections with a broader assertion about protection, which the review treated as uncertain.

THIP MediaHealth & medicine

Testosterone levels dropped by 50% in recent decades

Publisher’s rating: Half True

Related reporting describes a 50-percent decline as a claim made by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., not as a settled measurement. It says Kennedy made the claim during an April 2025 Fox News appearance while discussing research on sperm counts and reproductive health, and linked it to concerns about chronic disease, fertility and men’s health. This identifies a specific later instance of the claim, but does not show that it was the subject of THIP Media’s 2022 review. The report distinguishes the dramatic figure from the broader evidence: it says several studies have suggested that average testosterone levels among men have declined over recent decades, while experts have questioned whether the data supports Kennedy’s specific comparisons. The excerpt does not identify those studies, provide measurements or describe how they were conducted. It therefore supports saying that the broad trend has been suggested in research, but does not establish a 50-percent decline or its timeframe.

VRMHealth & medicine

Biontech ist von der Wirksamkeit seines Impfstoffes gegen Covid-19 nicht überzeugt

Publisher’s rating: Falsch

The claim arose from a BioNTech filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission dated March 30, 2022, covering the company’s 2021 financial year. The review focuses on a sentence warning that BioNTech might not be able to demonstrate enough efficacy or safety to obtain lasting regulatory approval for its COVID-19 vaccine or variant-specific versions. It explains that some readers took this as the company admitting its vaccine was ineffective or unsafe. [S1]

FACTLYHealth & medicine

Women while giving birth experiences 57 del unit of pain (Labor), similar to 20 bones simultaneously getting fractured

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The post makes two related assertions: that labor pain measures 57 “del” units and resembles 20 bones breaking at once, and that a man dies at 45 units. FACTLY’s review focuses on whether those numbers make sense on the pain scale named in the post. It reports that a 1948 research paper used “dol,” not “del,” as the unit for painfulness, and that the dol scale’s maximum was 10.5. Both 57 and 45 are far above that maximum, so the review concludes they are unlikely measurements on that scale. The review also distinguishes the dol scale from a later pain-rating approach. It says Harvard Medical School developed a 10-point scale to help medical staff document and monitor pain, and notes that the post’s figures do not fit that range either. This supports the review’s conclusion that the figures are not valid ratings on the scales it discusses; the excerpt does not provide a separate measurement of childbirth pain or evidence comparing labor with 20 fractures. The review’s conclusion is therefore narrower than a direct comparison of the physical sensations: it challenges the claim’s numerical framing and terminology, rather than reporting an experiment on childbirth or simultaneous fractures. It concludes that a woman’s childbirth pain is not 57 dol.

Deutsche Presse-AgenturHealth & medicine

Der Oberste Gerichtshof Spaniens hat verkündet, dass Covid-19 eine patentierte Biowaffe ist.

Publisher’s rating: Der Oberste Gerichtshof in Madrid hat sich zu keinem Zeitpunkt entsprechend geäußert. Eine Sprecherin dementierte die Behauptungen. Covid-19 ist eine durch ein Virus ausgelöste Infektionskrankheit und keine patentierte Biowaffe.

The claim under review was that Spain’s Supreme Court had declared Covid-19 a patented biological weapon rather than a virus. The review reports that the court’s spokesperson told Deutsche Presse-Agentur that the court had never made that assertion and described the circulating social-media message as fabricated: “Dass Covid-19 eine patentierte Biowaffe ist, hat das Gericht aber nie behauptet, sagte eine Sprecherin der Deutschen Presse-Agentur. Die Meldung, die in den sozialen Netzwerken kursiert, ist frei erfunden.” The article explains that the court did address pandemic-related matters, but distinguishes those proceedings from the alleged statement. It cites a separate decision from summer 2021 concerning a curfew imposed in the Balearic Islands: “Das Tribunal Supremo hatte da unter anderem die auf den Balearen verhängte Sperrstunde gekippt.” That real court action does not substantiate the claim about a biological weapon. The review also describes searches for corroboration. It says searches for reporting on such a statement found none and that searches of court websites did not find terms such as “arma biológica”: “Doch entsprechende Suchen nach einer derartigen Berichterstattung laufen ins Leere. Auch auf den Seiten der Gerichte lassen sich Begriffe wie «arma biológica» (dt. «Biowaffe») nicht finden.” The article presents those checks alongside the spokesperson’s denial, rather than as a claim that a particular court document proves the statement was never made.

FACTLYHealth & medicine

Consuming a cool drink immediately after eating a mango causes death

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

FACTLY’s review addresses a viral newspaper clipping claiming that people travelling to Chandigarh died after drinking a cool drink immediately after eating a mango. The review says it searched for credible information and news reports confirming that alleged incident but found none. That absence of corroboration challenges the story about deaths, though the excerpt does not identify the clipping’s origin or provide details about the people it supposedly describes. The review also considers whether the combination itself is fatal. It explains that mangoes contain organic acids, including citric and malic acids, while carbonated drinks contain carbonic acid. It reports that these are weak acids with similar dissociation constants and says they generally coexist in solution without much interaction. On that basis, the review says experts do not consider consuming mango with a carbonated drink fatal. The review does note a qualification: mangoes and soft drinks are high in sugar, and the dietitian it quotes said consuming both can increase sugar levels and acidity in the body. It describes that as inadvisable for healthy living, not as evidence of a fatal reaction. The excerpt therefore distinguishes a possible dietary concern from the specific claim that the combination causes death.

dpaHealth & medicine

In keinem anderen Land der Welt ziehen die Kosten so stark an wie in Österreich und in Deutschland. In Österreich sind bis auf eine Partei alle für eine Impfpflicht, obwohl mittlerweile jeder weiß, wie gefährlich die Corona-Impfung ist.

Publisher’s rating: Mehrere Behauptungen sind falsch. So liegt die Inflation in einigen Ländern Europas und der Welt höher als in Österreich und Deutschland. Die Impfpflicht wurde von der österreichischen Regierung im März 2022 vorerst ausgesetzt. Die Corona-Impfung wurde vor ihrer Zulassung umfassend auf Sicherheit und Wirksamkeit untersucht und wird weiterhin überwacht.

FACTLYHealth & medicine

Only men die of heart attacks. Even if women die of heart attacks, their number is very less

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The review addresses a social-media video claiming that only men die of heart attacks and that women’s deaths are very few. It reports that the video’s claim is false, citing evidence that heart disease affects both sexes and that substantial numbers of women are affected. The investigation says it searched online and found information from official health websites, including healthdirect, an Australian government-funded service. As reported by the review, healthdirect says that although more men than women are admitted to hospital for heart attacks, deaths among men and women are roughly equal. The review also cites the National Health Portal of India, which identifies coronary heart disease as a leading cause of death for both men and women in urban areas. For India-specific heart-attack data, it points to the 2019 Report on Medical Certification of Cause of Death. The review states that this report covers 1,571,540 medically certified deaths—977,199 male and 594,341 female—and says that the report’s details include deaths from acute myocardial infarction, another term for heart attack. The excerpt does not provide the sex-specific acute-myocardial-infarction figures, so those figures cannot be independently assessed from the supplied text. The review further invokes the American Heart Association’s account of the burden of heart disease among women and notes that heart-disease risk is affected by factors beyond gender. Taken together, the sources it describes contradict the absolute assertion that only men die of heart attacks and the suggestion that women’s deaths are negligible. The review’s evidence supports that women are also affected; the supplied excerpt does not give a comparative, sex-specific count of heart-attack deaths from the Indian report.

FACTLYHealth & medicine

Velammal Hospital, Madurai, treats patients with no doctor fee and no admission fee

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The claim concerns Velammal Hospital in Madurai and says patients receive treatment without doctor or admission fees. The review also notes that the circulating post made additional claims about free operations and an 8% discount on medicines. The hospital’s response, as reported by the fact-check, directly contradicts the central claim: it said that patients need to pay and that there is no exemption from operation charges. The review describes several checks. It says the hospital’s website listed prices for health check-ups but did not state that doctor or admission fees were waived, or that operations were free or medicines discounted by 8%. It also reports that the fact-check contacted the hospital about the no-fee claim and received confirmation that payment was required. These findings address the claim directly, rather than relying only on the absence of a price statement online. The review distinguishes the alleged general fee waivers from a separate practice: Velammal Hospital frequently organizes free medical camps in and around Tamil Nadu. That information does not establish that ordinary hospital treatment is free of doctor or admission fees. The review also mentions a 2020 report of daily ward charges during COVID-19 and pharmacy receipts that showed no 8% discount, but its stated conclusion on the central claim rests particularly on the hospital’s confirmation that payment is required.