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Among the false theories, monkeypox was caused by the use of a chimpanzee adenovirus vector in the AstraZeneca vaccine.
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May 24, 2022 • 14 minutes ago • 4 minutes reading • 26 comments This 2003 electron microscope image provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows a smallpox monkey, obtained from a sample associated with the 2003 prairie dog outbreak. Monkeypox, a disease that rarely occurs outside of Africa, has been identified by European and American health authorities in recent days. Photo of Cynthia S. Goldsmith, Russell Re / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
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With the outbreak of smallpox in monkeys now reported in at least a dozen countries, speculation about the origin of the viral disease has spread on social media.
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Public health authorities in Europe and North America are investigating more than 100 suspected and confirmed cases of viral infection in the worst outbreak of the virus outside Africa, where it is endemic.
So far, three conspiracy theories have emerged since viral disease spread around the world:
FALSE: Chimpanzee adenovirus vector in AstraZeneca vaccine causes monkeypox
Allegations that the monkeypox outbreak was caused by the use of a chimpanzee adenovirus vector in the COVID-19 Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine have been gaining momentum online.
A person on Twitter, a British MP, wrote on May 20: “Who is surprised that after millions of people have been injected with the genetically modified chimpanzee virus, there is now a smallpox outbreak of the monkey?” Since then, his post has received nearly 2,000 retweets and has been liked more than 6,000 times.
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Who’s surprised that after millions of people were injected with the genetically modified chimpanzee virus, there’s now a smallpox outbreak of the monkey?
– David Kurten (@davidkurten) May 20, 2022
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The same suggestion has also been echoed on other Twitter sites as well as Facebook, with users highlighting a list of ingredients that make up the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.
Thus, after 2 years, the increase in cases (of the smallpox of the monkey) is “puzzling scientists”. So none of these “experienced scientists” THOUGHT that using a chimpanzee adenovirus in a brand new vaccine that already has more than 1,500 side effects COULD cause some other problems later?
– Natalie 🏴🌸🏴🌸 (@ pureangel40) May 23, 2022
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While the AstraZeneca vaccine uses a chimpanzee adenovirus vector in its formula, it is not connected to the monkey’s smallpox, Reuters Fact Check clarified. Monkeypox is caused by the monkeypox virus, according to the World Health Organization.
“It’s completely different from monkeypox and there’s no chance the two are linked,” said Ian Jones, a professor of virology at the University of Reading.
“The virus used in the AZ vaccine is an adenovirus that has been mutated to prevent it from growing in human cells,” he said.
Because there is little or no immunity among humans, it can be used as a vaccine or as a vaccine vector, he said. “All the vector does is bring the vaccine component into human cells, it doesn’t establish any infection in itself.”
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Jones’ words were echoed by experts at Meedan Health Desk, a group of public health scientists working to address online medical misinformation, who told Reuters: “Scientists use a chimpanzee adenovirus as a vector. a way to get instructions for making virus-fighting antigens in the body. ”
“Keep in mind that chimpanzees are not monkeys,” Meedan added.
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Biden: US exploring smallpox vaccine; “Everyone” should be worried
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The first two cases of smallpox from the Canadian monkey in Quebec were confirmed, others under investigation
FALSE: The US dropped the monkeypox
Chinese social media users speculate that the US could be the source of monkeypox infections.
Viral infection has been highlighted as a trending topic on the popular social media platform Weibo over the past three days with a hashtag in the United States reporting two suspected cases of monkeypox that attracted more than 51 million views on Monday .
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Although Chinese state media have refrained from accusing the United States of intentionally spreading monkeypox, an accusation it made about COVID-19, many social media users have not stopped.
A 2021 report on biosecurity preparedness planning by a U.S. non-governmental organization, the Nuclear Threat Initiative, which included a scenario for a pandemic smallpox pandemic, has been taken out of context to suggest that the U.S. government knew the outbreak was approaching.
Nationalist influencer Shu Chang, who has 6.41 million followers on Weibo, deliberately misinterpreted the report and published that it showed “a US plan to filter out the monkeypox virus from bioengineering.”
More than 7,500 users liked the post and received more than 660 comments, many of them according to her. One said the US was “evil beyond the imagination of humanity.”
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Health misinformation has been widespread in China and the United States during the COVID pandemic. The two countries had been embroiled in a dispute over the origins of the virus. Beijing has made baseless claims that the U.S. designed the virus on a military basis, while some U.S. media outlets questioned whether the virus could have leaked from a research facility in Wuhan. city where COVID was first detected.
PROBABLY TRUE: The monkey’s smallpox spread by sex in two radishes in Europe
A senior WHO adviser described the unprecedented outbreak of smallpox in developed countries as “a random event” that appears to have been caused by sexual activity in two recent radishes in Europe.
Dr. David Heymann, who previously headed the WHO’s emergency department, told The Associated Press that the main theory behind the spread of the disease was sexual transmission in radishes held in Spain and Belgium.
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“We know that monkeypox can spread when there is close contact with an injured person’s injuries, and it appears that sexual contact has now amplified that transmission,” Heymann said.
This is an unlikely development of the typical pattern of disease spread in Central and West Africa, where people are often infected by animals such as rodents and wild primates.
Health officials say most of the known cases in Europe have been between men who have sex with men, but anyone can become infected through close contact with a sick person, their clothes or sheets. Scientists say it will be difficult to unravel if the spread is being driven by sex or simply by close contact.
“By nature, sexual activity involves intimate contact, which would be expected to increase the likelihood of transmission, regardless of a person’s sexual orientation and regardless of the mode of transmission,” said Mike Skinner, a virologist. of Imperial College London.
On Monday, the director of the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, Andrea Ammon, said that “the likelihood of further spread of the virus through close contact, for example during sexual activities between people with multiple sexual partners “.
Cases of smallpox have so far been mild and no deaths have been reported. The virus usually causes fever, chills, rashes, and injuries to the face or genitals. Most people recover within a few weeks without hospitalization.
With additional reports from Bloomberg, Reuters and the Associated Press
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