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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

Bundesweit müssen die Menschen in Geschäften sowie in Bussen und Bahnen wegen des Coronavirus Mund und Nase bedecken. Kritiker der Masken bezeichnen das als Unsinn, zum Teil halten sie den Mundschutz für gefährlich. Häufig beziehen sie sich in ihrer Argumentation auf eine rund 15 Jahre alte Doktorarbeit von der Technischen Universität München. Demnach atme man angeblich schon unter einfachen OP-Masken viel zu viel Kohlendioxid (CO2) aus dem eigenen Atem wieder ein, daher komme es zu schnellerer Atmung oder zu Unregelmäßigkeiten beim Herzschlag

Publisher’s rating: Richtig ist, dass die Testpersonen einen etwas erhöhten CO2-Gehalt im Blut hatten, jedoch zeigten sich weder ein unregelmäßiger Herzschlag noch eine beschleunigte Atmung. Das bestätigte aktuell die Autorin der Arbeit.

The claim attributes increased breathing or an irregular heartbeat to carbon dioxide re-inhalation under surgical masks, citing a dissertation by the Technical University of Munich. The dpa review identifies the work as Ulrike Butz’s 2004 dissertation, which tested two types of commercially available surgical masks then used in hospitals. It reports that the dissertation did find increased carbon dioxide in participants’ blood, but that this finding does not establish the claimed breathing or heart effects. Evidence quoted from the dissertation says there was no compensatory increase in breathing rate or fall in oxygen saturation, and the review says the measured heart rate showed no significant increase or decrease. The review also distinguishes the measured carbon-dioxide change from claims about symptoms appearing after roughly 30 minutes. It says those purported symptoms—including impaired concentration, fine-motor problems, irregular heartbeat, and faster breathing—are not findings in the dissertation. The dissertation instead describes carbon dioxide accumulating under the masks and participants breathing air with a higher carbon-dioxide content than the surrounding room air; after mask removal, the values quickly returned to baseline. The review reports that Butz told dpa that health impairments could not be inferred from her work and that doing so would be unscientific. She had called for further studies on the effects of surgical masks. Thus, the dissertation supports a limited finding of increased blood carbon dioxide in the tested participants, not the cited claims of faster breathing or irregular heartbeat.

Fact CrescendoHealth & medicine

Claim: This baby not died in Covid 19

Publisher’s rating: Partly False

The review investigated a photograph shared with claims that it showed a father embracing his daughter after she died of COVID-19. It says the child in the image was visibly alive, and reports that reverse-image searching led to a Twitter post describing the scene as a soldier embracing his daughter covered in plastic. The review says that account was from the Philippines, which indicated the image was not from India, as some posts implied. (The review’s reported discovery of a Philippines-based account is part of its investigation; it later identifies the event itself as having occurred in Malaysia.)

Deutsche Presse-AgenturHealth & medicine

Une publication Facebook, partagée également sur WhatsApp en plusieurs langues, laisse sous-entendre qu'un professeur japonais nommé Tasuku Honjo aurait affirmé devant les médias que le coronavirus ne serait pas d'origine naturelle. Plusieurs arguments sont énumérés pour étayer sa théorie. Selon le texte partagé sur les réseaux sociaux, le professeur sous-entendrait donc que l'origine du virus serait artificielle, et donc humaine. De plus, il accuserait directement « la Chine » d'avoir « fabriqué » le coronavirus. (http://dpaq.de/i7Clb).

Publisher’s rating: Le professeur Tasuku Honjo ne s'est pas exprimé dans ce sens aux médias.

The review concerns a Facebook post, also circulated on WhatsApp in several languages, that attributed to Tasuku Honjo statements suggesting the coronavirus was not naturally occurring and had been made by China. The post listed arguments for its theory, but the review reports that Honjo expressly denied making the statements attributed to him. [S1]

NewtralHealth & medicine

Las mascarillas quirúrgicas incumplen el reglamento de la Unión Europea

Publisher’s rating: Falso

The review examines a circulating photo of a poster claiming that masks whose price the government capped at €0.96 lacked CE certification and were therefore illegal. Its conclusion turns on the distinction between surgical masks and personal protective equipment (EPI): the review says the poster cites EU Regulation 2016/425, which requires CE certification for some masks, but that this regulation does not apply to the €0.96 surgical masks at issue. So the claim conflates two mask categories. The excerpt does not provide further technical documentation or describe independent testing of particular masks; its stated basis is that the cited regulation governs some EPI masks, not the surgical masks covered by the poster’s price claim.