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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.

13,677 published reviews in this topic

Fact CrescendoHealth & medicine

तस्वीर में बीजेपी कार्यकर्ता गाय के गोबर में लथपथ हो रहे हैं क्योंकि उनकी पार्टी की नेत्री सुमन हरिप्रिया ने कहा कि गाय का गोबर कोरोना वायरस को ठीक करने में मदद कर सकता है।

Publisher’s rating: False

FACTLYHealth & medicine

Aaj Tak channel telecasted a program that said drinking alcohol or weed can cure COVID-19

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned images shared on social media as evidence that Aaj Tak had broadcast a program saying alcohol or weed could cure COVID-19. FACTLY reports that the images were actually taken from an Aaj Tak fact-check episode. The episode’s message was the opposite: it debunked the cure claims and concluded that neither alcohol nor weed cures COVID-19. To check the images’ provenance, FACTLY says it searched for Aaj Tak’s coronavirus coverage and found the episode on the Aaj Tak HD YouTube channel. Its account of the video is direct: “they do not claim that alcohol or weed can cure COVID-19” and instead “debunk the posts which say that alcohol or weed can cure COVID-19.” This makes the images misleading evidence for the claim: they came from coverage addressing and rejecting it, rather than endorsing it. The review also describes the claims being debunked. It reports that the episode stated there was then no COVID-19 vaccine or medicine, and cites a World Health Organization Western Pacific tweet saying alcohol does not protect against infection. Separately, it says a viral post claimed weed killed coronavirus, notes that Vivek Agnihotri had also tweeted that claim, and reports that the image used for the post came from a website where memes are created and posted. The review concludes that Aaj Tak did not broadcast a program claiming either substance could cure COVID-19.

Deutsche Presse-AgenturHealth & medicine

Seit Tagen werden Falschnachrichten über das Coronavirus in sozialen Netzwerken verbreitet. In einem derzeit kursierenden Screenshot, der wie ein Ausschnitt aus einem Artikel von "Zeit Online" aussieht, heißt es: "In Plochingen und Eislingen gab es bereits 8 Todesfälle." Im Göppingen und Esslingen in Baden-Württemberg herrsche zudem Mundschutzpflicht

Publisher’s rating: Der Text in dem Screenshot stammt nicht von "Zeit Online". Eine Mundschutzpflicht dieser Art gibt es nicht. In Deutschland ist derzeit (Stand 5. März) kein Todesfall durch das Coronavirus bekannt.

Fact CrescendoHealth & medicine

Claim: Coronavirus spreading in Tanjore

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The review investigated a Facebook post alleging that broiler chicken in Pandanallur, Thanjavur district, was affected by coronavirus and urging people not to eat chicken. It describes the post as containing a photograph of a young woman in a hospital, along with images of chicken and food. The review checked the pictures’ origins and the claim about transmission through meat rather than treating the images as proof of an outbreak. (S1: “தஞ்சாவூர் மாவட்டம் பந்தநல்லூரில் பிராய்லர் சிக்கனில் கொரோனா வைரஸ் பரவியதாக, இளம் பெண் படத்துடன் பதிவு ஒன்று பகிரப்பட்டு வருகிறது. இதன் நம்பகத்தன்மையை ஆய்வு செய்தோம்.”)

Deutsche Presse-AgenturHealth & medicine

In einem Facebook-Post werden die angeblich heilenden Kräfte der Zwiebel dargestellt. Es entsteht der Eindruck, die Zwiebel sei ein wirksames Mittel gegen Bakterien und Viren. Außerdem wird behauptet, Zwiebeln könnten Bakterien absorbieren und diese in sich aufnehmen. "Zwiebeln sind riesige Magenten für Bakterien" (sic), heißt es im Beitrag. "Aus diesem Grund sollten wir NICHT eine Zwiebel essen, die eine Zeitlang aufbewahrt wurde" (sic). Die Zwiebel könne - einmal angeschnitten - binnen kürzester Zeit "hochgiftig" sein

Publisher’s rating: Die Angaben zu den vermeintlichen Heilkräften von Zwiebeln sind falsch. Zwiebeln können keine Bakterien anziehen. Zwiebeln werden auch nicht in kürzester Zeit hochgiftig. Sie verderben durch die in der Luft enthaltenden Bakterien, genau so wie auch andere Lebensmittel verderben würden.

The post described by dpa claimed that onions could absorb bacteria, act as a remedy against bacteria and viruses, and become “highly toxic” soon after being cut. The fact-check examined those specific assertions. It reports that there was no research evidence that onions attract bacteria or take in influenza viruses, and that the claim about a cut onion becoming toxic after one night was rejected by microbiologist Haike Antelmann of Freie Universität Berlin. The article does not describe laboratory tests conducted by dpa; it presents the expert’s assessment and the state of research it reports. The article distinguishes antimicrobial activity from the post’s claims about attraction and absorption. It says compounds in onion juice can inhibit or kill some microorganisms, and that volatile sulfur compounds may affect microorganisms in the air. But, according to Antelmann, the reported effect principally concerns bacteria; the article says there was no scientific evidence that onion antimicrobial activity also works against viruses. Antimicrobial action therefore does not establish that an onion pulls bacteria into itself or removes viruses from the air. On the alleged danger of storing a cut onion, dpa reports that Antelmann rejected the assertion that it becomes highly toxic after one night. The article instead says onions spoil through bacteria present in the air, as other foods do. It also notes that viruses cannot be seen with an ordinary microscope, as the post suggested; an electron microscope is needed. These qualifications matter: the article does not say onions cannot spoil or have no antimicrobial effects, but it finds no support for the post’s specific claims about bacterial attraction, viral absorption, or rapid toxicity.