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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

NewtralHealth & medicine

La OMS aconseja “evitar tener sexo sin protección” con animales para evitar el contagio del coronavirus

Publisher’s rating: Falso

The claim concerned an English-language poster circulating on WhatsApp and social media that appeared to come from the World Health Organization (WHO). The poster said people should not have “unprotected sex” with animals to avoid coronavirus infection. Newtral’s review reports that the WHO’s European office told it the warning had not been issued by the organization and “makes no sense.”

台灣事實查核中心Health & medicine

網傳「帶毛領或是絨線的衣服外套，較容易吸附病毒」？

Publisher’s rating: 錯誤

The review examined a message circulating on social and messaging platforms that attributed advice against wearing coats with furry collars or knitted fabric to a friend’s daughter supporting medical staff in Wuhan. It asked whether those clothing materials are especially likely to attract viruses. The report interviewed three experts: Academia Sinica biomedical researcher Ho Mei-hsiang, Taiwan Society of Infectious Diseases president and National Taiwan University Children’s Hospital director Huang Li-min, and Centers for Disease Control physician Huang Shih-tse. The experts did not identify any particular clothing material as unusually likely to attract viruses. Ho said that if concern is about viruses or bacteria sticking to clothing, that concern would apply broadly rather than identifying one special fabric; she advised changing clothes after time in places such as hospitals. Huang Li-min likewise said there was no particular material that attracted viruses more readily and that avoiding specific clothing materials was not necessary. Huang Shih-tse added that the presence of virus on an item does not by itself mean it will pass to another person or cause infection; he said evidence linking particular clothing materials to such infections was lacking. The report’s practical advice was to focus on handwashing and wearing a mask at appropriate times, rather than choosing clothes based on this claim. It also said people concerned about clothing exposed outside could change and wash it. The cited experts described respiratory transmission and hand-to-mouth contact with contaminated environments as relevant routes, while cautioning against undue alarm about clothing.

台灣事實查核中心Health & medicine

網傳「武漢的病毒一碗煮沸的濃大蒜水就能喝好」？

Publisher’s rating: 錯誤

The claim checked was that drinking a bowl of boiled, concentrated garlic water could cure the new coronavirus, with the circulating message further claiming that an experienced Chinese medicine practitioner had tested it and many patients had recovered. The review also describes a version giving a recipe of eight crushed garlic cloves boiled in seven cups of water and claiming recovery overnight. The investigators treated these as claims about garlic as a cure, rather than as evidence that garlic might have general dietary benefits. The review reports interviews with Meihsiang Ho, an adjunct research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Biomedical Sciences, and Lih-Ming Huang, president of the Taiwan Society of Infectious Diseases and head of pediatrics at National Taiwan University Hospital. Ho said that eating a particular food could not cure the disease. Huang said the method had no basis and there was no evidence that patients had recovered because of garlic water. The review’s conclusion was that the claimed cure lacked scientific evidence. The report distinguishes that cure claim from the narrower possibility that garlic consumption could support immune function: it says some studies suggest such a benefit, but that does not establish that garlic or garlic paste directly kills viruses. It also documents a separate circulating instruction to inhale crushed garlic. A National Research Institute of Chinese Medicine assistant researcher, Chia-Ching Liao, said inhaling garlic or eating garlic paste would not clear virus already in the body and that these remedies lacked scientific evidence. The report advised people who suspected infection, or were at high risk, to seek testing and regular medical care.

NewtralHealth & medicine

La OMS aconseja “evitar tener sexo sin protección” con animales para evitar el contagio del coronavirus

Publisher’s rating: Falso

The claim concerned an alleged English-language WHO poster advising people to avoid “unprotected sex” with animals as a way to prevent coronavirus infection. Newtral reports that the poster was circulating on WhatsApp groups and social media; it does not present the wording as an authentic WHO recommendation. [S1: “Se está difundiendo a través de grupos de WhatsApp y las redes sociales un presunto cartel en inglés de la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS) con recomendaciones para evitar el contagio del coronavirus en el que se lee que no se debe tener ‘sexo sin protección’ con animales.”] To check the poster’s attribution, Newtral says it contacted the WHO’s European office. That office told the outlet the warning had not been issued by the organization and that it “made no sense.” The account therefore distinguishes the circulating poster from advice actually sent by the WHO: the source’s reported inquiry found no WHO endorsement for the instruction. [S1: “Desde Newtral.es nos hemos puesto en contacto con la oficina europea de la OMS, desde donde nos han indicado que esta advertencia no ha sido enviada por parte de la organización y que ‘no tiene ningún sentido’.”]

AAP FactCheckHealth & medicine

Claims that the coronavirus originating in Wuhan, China escaped from a lab and has caused 100,000-plus infections in Wuhan.

Publisher’s rating: Based on the evidence, AAP FactCheck found the Facebook post to be false. There is no evidence that the 2019 Novel Coronavirus came from a Chinese laboratory. Based on current information, the WHO says the virus most likely originated in an animal. The US CDC has linked the initial virus infections to a live animal market in Wuhan. The number of cases of infection with the coronavirus in Wuhan has not reached 100,000 as claimed in the video. Data from China's National Health Commission and a monitoring tool created by Johns Hopkins University show the totals to be much lower in Hubei province - where Wuhan is located - at 3,554, and in mainland China, where the count was at 7,711 on January 30. False - The primary claims of the content are factually inaccurate.

NewtralHealth & medicine

Hay informes sobre más de 10.000 muertos en Wuhan a causa del Coronavirus

Publisher’s rating: Falso

The claim concerned social-media posts asserting that 10,000 people had died after contracting coronavirus, with the alleged toll linked to reports about Wuhan. Newtral says those posts relied on a website that repeated rumors and supposed testimonies disputing Chinese authorities’ figures, but supplied no supporting evidence, references, or sources. To put the claim in context, the review cites the World Health Organization’s balance dated January 28, 2020: 4,593 people affected worldwide and 106 deaths, all in China. It also describes Johns Hopkins’ geographic data maps as drawing on information from the WHO and public-health authorities in the United States and China. Those figures and the lack of substantiation for the purported reports do not support the claim of more than 10,000 deaths.

YouturnHealth & medicine

Most Urgent,Very Serious, Important information📣 Ministry of health’s emergency notification to the public that the Coronavirus influenza outbreak this time is very very serious & fatal. There's no cure once you are infected. Its spreading from China to various countries Prevention method is to keep your throat moist, do not let your throat dry up. Thus do not hold your thirst because once your membrane in your throat is dried, the virus will invade into your body within 10 mins. Drink 50-80cc warm water, 30-50cc for kids, according to age. Everytime u feel your throat is dry, do not wait, keep water in hand. Do not drink plenty at one time as it doesn’t help, instead continue to keep throat moist. Till end of March 2020, do not go to crowded places, wear mask as needed especially in train or public transportation Avoid fried or spicy food and load up vitamin C. The symptoms/ description are 1.repeated high fever 2.prolonged coughing after fever 3.Children are prone 4.Adults usually feel uneasy,*headache and mainly respiratory related 5: highly contagious🚨 Please share..!🙏😇

Publisher’s rating: Fake

Deutsche Presse-AgenturHealth & medicine

Seit Wochen hält der Erreger einer neuen Lungenkrankheit die Welt in Atem. Mit der aktuellen Ausbreitung des Coronavirus werden im Netz massiv falsche Theorien verbreitet. So soll etwa die Stiftung von Microsoft-Gründer Bill Gates im konkreten Fall 65 Millionen Tote prognostiziert haben. Zudem gebe es einen direkten Bezug zu einem alten Coronavirus-Patent

Publisher’s rating: Es gibt keinen Beweis dafür, dass die Gates-Stiftung für das jüngst in China ausgebrochene Coronavirus verantwortlich ist. Zudem hat die Stiftung im Vorfeld auch keine Prognose über zu erwartende Opferzahlen aufgestellt. Ein als angeblicher Beleg vorgebrachtes Patent bezieht sich auf eine andere Coronavirus-Art.

The claims concerned the newly reported lung disease in China: that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation had funded the virus, that it had predicted 65 million deaths, and that a coronavirus patent connected it to the outbreak. The dpa review examined the cited patent and the October 2019 Event 201 exercise, rather than treating their shared coronavirus terminology as proof of a link. It reports that the first infections were known in China in December 2019 and that the outbreak was then associated with a market in Wuhan where fish and wild animals were sold. (S1: “Erste Infektionen der Lungenkrankheit werden im Dezember 2019 in China bekannt.”; “wo Fische und Wildtiere verkauft werden”) For the patent claim, the review says its search of the patent database found a 2015 “Coronavirus” patent filed by the Pirbright Institute. It describes the patent as concerning vaccine development against a poultry virus, not the outbreak’s 2019-nCoV. The review also notes that the Gates Foundation was among Pirbright’s funders, but explains that this connection did not establish that the foundation funded the outbreak virus. (S1: “Eine Recherche in der Patent-Datenbank bringt tatsächlich ein Patent von 2015 mit dem Titel