In conjunction with the emergence of cases of “monkeypox” disease, social networking sites were buzzing with a number of comments and likely analyzes of the “conspiracy theory”, dealing with false information about the emergence of the virus and hence its spread, so what is the scientific response to these rumors?
Munich Conference 2021
The most prominent rumor, after the spread of monkeypox cases, was that there were previous reports about an expected spread of the disease, which conspiracy theorists considered the “biggest evidence” that “its spread was by an active act”… So what is the truth of that?
2021:
One of the activities at the Munich Security Conference included a scenario of the spread of monkeypox virus, and Bill Gates warned of the spread of a similar virus in one of the meetings.2022:
The emergence of monkeypox and reports of infections in several countries.– Hussain Al-Ghawi (@halgawi) May 24, 2022
Commenting on this, Dr. Muhammad Ali Ezz Al-Arab, the internal consultant at the National Institute of Liver and Infectious Diseases and the medical advisor to the Egyptian Center for the Right to Medicine, says that the circulating publication relates to a hypothetical scenario that was presented in March 2021, during the Munich Security Conference.
Speaking to Al-Hurra, he indicated that this hypothetical scenario talked about how to confront the expected biological epidemics, including “monkey pox.”
He continued, “Foundation.”NTI“Itself carried out a previous scenario in June 2019, and it was about the spread of the plague and they put plans to limit it,” adding, “but there was no spread of the plague.”
He added, “These scenarios are developed periodically on how to confront a particular disease, with the help of experts from several countries, and these scenarios must be used to prepare in advance to confront diseases that may spread among humans.”
The disease was first discovered in 1958, when two cases of smallpox-like disease occurred in colonies of monkeys preserved for research, hence the name “monkeypox”.
The first human case of monkeypox was recorded in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Manufactured virus?
Despite the previous facts, some rumors went that “the virus was manufactured in a laboratory”, and the proponents of that theory used some images from the cartoon series “The Simpsons” to prove their claim.
⚠️‼️
A scene from the Simpsons series
Talking about monkeypox pic.twitter.com/DWZ61r8iSY— Hidden Facts (@hiddenfacts_1) May 24, 2022
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Important report.
..A source within the European Center for Disease Control (ECDC) told me that preliminary analysis of the current monkeypox outbreak indicates that it is ???? “a third laboratory strain with unknown characteristics.”
And that there is talk of it being linked in one way or another to Moscow’s accusations against the activities— Sultan Al-Otaibi (@sultaa999) May 23, 2022
The infectious disease consultant says that the conspiracy theory has been in abundance during the last period, and its promoters use some events to prove the validity of their allegations.
He asked: “In the event that the virus is manufactured in a laboratory, what guarantees its control after that?”, stressing that these theories are completely unscientific.
He continued, “From a scientific point of view, it is not possible to control manufactured or genetically modified viruses, or whose genetic sequence has been tampered with,” adding that “in case the virus is created, laboratory workers can contract it.”
He explained that “the idea of selecting who gets infected and who doesn’t get infected or who dies and who doesn’t die is not scientific, and talking about ready and pre-manufactured vaccines is scientifically useless.”
The infectious disease consultant explained that ready-made vaccines do not give 100% complete immunity, adding, “There is no selection in the disease.”
A new pandemic?
During the past days, it was linked between the Corona virus and monkeypox disease, and some accounts on social media circulated talk about an expected spread of “monkeypox”, in a manner similar to the Corona pandemic .. Could the disease turn into a new pandemic?
Now, what is the difference between ordinary smallpox and monkeypox, I feel the same, but they love drama and changed its name in order to make the same movement as Corona.
— lines ???????? (@what_no55) May 24, 2022
Ezz Al-Arab says that monkeypox will not turn into an epidemic like the Corona virus, because it has limited spread.
He expected the emergence of new cases of monkeypox, adding, “But the matter will not develop into a pandemic stage, as happened with Corona.”
Regarding the reasons for this, Ezz Al-Arab says, the prevalence of monkeypox is very limited. If a patient with monkeypox mixes with 50 people, the probability of infection occurs to one person out of 50.
He continued, “Monkeypox is completely different from the Corona virus, which is characterized by its rapid spread.”
Corona vaccines limit immunity?
Some rumors also spoke on social media, that the Corona vaccine caused a reduction in the body’s immunity and the emergence of a virus called VAIDS, which makes a person more vulnerable to other types of diseases, so what is true?
It’s not monkeypox. It’s VAIDS.
— ᴅᴊ ꜰʀᴇᴇᴅᴏᴍ ʀᴏᴄᴋᴇᴛꜱ ???? (@DJFreedomRocket) May 23, 2022
According to a report “NewsweekThese allegations are scientifically inaccurate, as there is no evidence that corona vaccines cause a type of AIDS, and there are no proven links between autoimmune diseases and monkeypox.
In a related context, Donna Farber, chair of the Department of Surgical Sciences and Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at Columbia University, said there is no such thing as “vaccine-acquired immunodeficiency syndrome” or VAIDS, according to “Archyde.com”.
VAIDS is not real, said Stephen Gluckman, professor of infectious diseases at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine and medical director at Penn Global Medicine.
Gluckman added that there is no evidence of a link between immunodeficiency and corona vaccines, according to a report by “”Archyde.com“.
Commenting on this, Ezz Al-Arab says, “The same people who refused vaccination after the emergence of the Corona pandemic, are the same ones who are repeating these allegations,” adding: “The vaccine does not cause immunodeficiency diseases, and talking about that is completely incorrect.”
Easy to spread
In the context of conspiracy theories, a number of Twitter users interacted with a tweet of a person who presented himself through his account as a “microbiological and immunological consultant”, in which he talked about the ease of spreading viruses through the skin .. Is this true?
Did they make a mistake by choosing an epidemic with a difficult to transmit virus?
They don’t care about the difficulty of moving it, they move planes that spread what they want where they want
Then the skin covers the whole body, making it easier to injure it, other than what needs to be entered through breathing. And the skin is allergic to thousands of substances, especially after the spread of weak immunity
I ask God to turn their plots against them
— Dr Mahmoud Saad (@doc_mahmoudsaad) May 24, 2022
Dr. Ezz Al-Arab responds to this, saying: “The speed and ease of infection through the skin is much less than its counterpart through the air, and in the case of monkeypox, the means of spreading the infection is exposure to direct droplets or sticking to the body of the infected person, especially in the skin area.”
He continued, “Also, monkeypox infection can be spread through sexual contact, touching the patient’s underwear, or exposure to the infected secretions.”
He explained that “the disease is similar to traditional smallpox, but its complications and death rates are much lower.”
He emphasized that the symptoms of monkeypox are high temperatures, chills, fatigue, headaches, and muscle weakness, followed by swelling of the lymph nodes, and then a rash.
Ezz Al-Arab explained that it is necessary to beware of “monkey pox”, but without intimidation, noting that the disease is not dangerous and there is no global recommendation until now regarding a mass vaccination to combat it.