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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.

13,676 published reviews in this topic

Deutsche Presse-AgenturHealth & medicine

Seit einiger Zeit kursieren Behauptungen im Netz, dass die Corona-Pandemie schon seit vielen Jahren geplant worden sei. Nun werden diese Gerüchte erneut befeuert: In einer Online-Datenbank von internationalen Handelsorganisationen tauchen Datensätze mit dem Titel «Covid-19 Test kits» aus dem Jahr 2017 auf. Ein Screenshot der Handelsdaten wird etwa auf Facebook (hier archiviert) als angeblicher Beweis für einen «Covid-Betrug» gepostet. Was ist dran?

Publisher’s rating: Hinter der Bezeichnung «Covid-19 Test kits» verbergen sich Medizinprodukte, mit denen schon seit Jahren gehandelt wird. Sie helfen auch bei anderen Krankheiten und Infektionen, wurden aber dieses Jahr zur einfacheren Bestellung zeitweise mit dem neuen Titel versehen.

The claim centers on World Integrated Trade Solution (WITS), a World Bank database: records for 2017 appeared under the label “Covid-19 Test kits,” and a screenshot was presented on Facebook as evidence of a “Covid fraud.” The review examined what the records represented and why they had that label. It reports that the relevant trade codes were already in use before the coronavirus pandemic and were not created specifically for SARS-CoV-2. The review identifies three codes behind the online discussion: 300215, for a broad group of antibody-based medicines; 382200, for reagents used in diagnostic and laboratory tests; and 902780, for a type of CO2 detector used to check whether patients are correctly connected to ventilators. The World Bank spokesperson quoted in the article said that this last device had existed for a long time. These descriptions indicate that the labels referred to pre-existing products, not products newly invented for the pandemic. The explanation for the Covid-related wording is a change in classification and presentation. The review says the World Customs Organization compiled certain HS codes in April 2020 and gave them new descriptions to help trading partners find products considered critical for use with Covid-19 patients. The World Bank spokesperson said the more specific description was applied retroactively to traded products going back to 2017, the year of the last revision of the trade codes. The article also reports that the database later replaced the Covid-19 labels with more general medical-product names and added a notice explaining that the products already existed before being classified as critical to tackling Covid-19. Thus, the 2017 date reflects the retrospective labeling of older trade categories, not evidence in the review of advance pandemic planning.

Deutsche Presse-AgenturHealth & medicine

"Vaccin tegen coronavirus veroorzaakt nieuwe ziekten" kopt een krantenartikel. "Artikel uit het AD van 1989", zegt een facebookgebruiker. "Wie nog steeds in deze Covid 19 bullshit geloofd, leeft onder een steen", besluit de post.

Publisher’s rating: Het coronavirus in de krantenkop is niet het SARS-CoV-2-virus dat COVID-19 veroorzaakt. Het krantenartikel uit 1989 gaat over Infectieuze Bronchitis Virus (IBV), een type coronavirus dat enkel voorkomt bij kippen. Verder is de krantenkop misleidend.

The post used a clipping headed “Vaccin tegen coronavirus veroorzaakt nieuwe ziekten” to argue that a 1989 newspaper article described a coronavirus vaccine, and linked that to COVID-19. The review says the clipping concerns infectious bronchitis virus (IBV), which affects poultry, not the virus responsible for COVID-19. It identifies the article’s introduction as the place where IBV is specified, and quotes veterinary epidemiologist and Utrecht University professor Arjan Stegeman explaining that coronaviruses include distinct groups: “IBV hoort bij de gammacoronavirussen, SARS-Cov-2 bij de betacoronavirussen. De twee zijn dus niet verwant.” The review also distinguishes the viruses by chronology: it says IBV was first discovered in 1931, whereas the first SARS-CoV-2 cases occurred in late December 2019. Those facts address the post’s implied connection between the old clipping and COVID-19: sharing the broad coronavirus label does not make the clipping about SARS-CoV-2. On the headline’s implication that vaccination causes new diseases, the review reports Stegeman’s explanation that IBV mutates and that vaccines do not protect against every variant. He describes selection pressure from vaccination, under which variants that escape protection can become predominant until the vaccine is adapted. The review’s conclusion is that these remain variants of IBV, not new diseases.

Vishvas NewsHealth & medicine

Wearing Mask To Protect From COVID-19 Causes Fungal Lung Infection

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The review examined a resurfaced social-media post alleging that people were entering emergency rooms with fungal lung infections caused by wearing masks and urging people to take mask breaks. Vishvas News says the post had previously been investigated and found false; the review’s stated conclusion is that wearing a mask to protect against COVID-19 does not cause fungal lung infection. For its investigation, the publisher says it searched online reports for evidence that masks cause fungal lung infections and found no credible reports supporting that claim. It also points to a CDC recommendation for cloth face coverings in public and around people outside one’s household. These are the checks described in the excerpt; it does not provide study details or further documentation for the CDC recommendation. The review also reports that pulmonologist Dr. Nikhil Modi of Indraprastha Apollo Hospital in New Delhi called the claim completely fake and emphasized the importance of masks. Taken together, the review presents the absence of credible supporting reports and the pulmonologist’s assessment as grounds for rejecting the post’s causal allegation. The excerpt does not identify the specific fungus alleged in the post or describe clinical records behind its emergency-room claim.

Deutsche Presse-AgenturHealth & medicine

« Pour tous les sceptiques pro-masques, voici une mesure en direct de la concentration de CO2 sous un masque... », indique une abonnée Facebook en Suisse. Pour appuyer ses dires, l’internaute partage une vidéo autrichienne. Un capteur, placé sous le masque, signale qu’il y a trop de dioxyde de carbone (CO2) sous le masque après quelques inspirations et expirations seulement.

Publisher’s rating: La vidéo est trompeuse. L'appareil n'a pas été conçu à cette fin. Il n’a pas été créé pour mesurer le CO2 sous un masque. De plus, le port d'un masque n'est généralement pas nocif pour l'homme et ne fait certainement pas inhaler une quantité nocive de dioxyde de carbone.

The post described in the review uses a video of a woman placing a CO2 detector under a mask. The display rises after she breathes, and the post presents this as evidence that the air under a mask contains a dangerous amount of carbon dioxide. The review examines that specific video and the device shown, rather than treating the display as a direct measurement of harm: it reports that the detector is intended to assess air quality in enclosed spaces, not to measure CO2 behind a mask. The review cites two specialists who explain why the readings do not establish the post’s conclusion. Professor Uwe Pliquett says the detector was not made to measure behind a mask. Roeland Samson, identified as a bioengineer at the University of Antwerp who researches air quality, says a rise in readings behind a mask is understandable, but that the video’s figures seem extraordinarily high. He also notes that a mask is not airtight and that people breathe through openings in the fabric. The reported measurement therefore does not show that a wearer is inhaling a harmful dose. The review adds that the detector’s product description lists uses in public places, agriculture, livestock and industry, rather than medical use or measuring CO2 in blood. It also cites Swiss public-health guidance that a mask lets enough air through, and a Swiss Medical Review article stating that CO2 poisoning from wearing a mask is not established. Taken together, the review’s evidence challenges both the suitability of the device for the test and the inference that its display demonstrates a health danger.

PolitiFactHealth & medicine

"The University of Washington model — which the White House has previously touted — projects that cases and deaths are going to spike this November — and an additional 215,000 Americans, they say, are going to … die by the first of the year. ... The University of Washington model shows that if there is universal masking, these deaths could be cut in half. We could save, between now and the end of the year, 100,000 lives."

Publisher’s rating: A fair summary