'Mpox outbreak' was not recorded in PNG in August 2024: health officials
- Published on September 2, 2024 at 06:18
- 3 min read
- By Jake SORIANO, AFP Australia
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"In Papua New Guinea, the Mpox virus has already arrived, and approximately 5% of the population is infected," read part of a Facebook post shared over 500 times since it was posted on August 23, 2024.
It included two pictures of a man and an infant with boil-like skin lesions.
Mpox, formerly called monkeypox, is a viral disease transmitted from animals to humans that can also be passed from human to human, causing fever, muscle pain and skin lesions.
The emergence and rapid spread in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and nearby countries of the new Clade 1b strain prompted the WHO to declare its highest international alert level on August 14 (archived link).
False posts similarly claiming mpox had spread to Papua New Guinea and infected five percent of its 12 million population have been shared elsewhere on Facebook and on Threads.
They were earlier debunked by the Australian Associated Press (archived link).
'Unnecessary panic'
"It is important to clarify that at this stage, there is no confirmed outbreak of Mpox in Papua New Guinea," read a statement posted on the WHO Papua New Guinea Facebook page on August 28 (archived link).
The message was also posted by the country's health department on August 30 (archived link).
Mpox is not the same as chickenpox "which is common in PNG", it added. The latter causes itchy skin rashes that progress into fluid-filled blisters but is caused by a different virus.
"The spread of misinformation can cause unnecessary panic and hinder public health efforts," the statement said.
Reverse image searches using the TinEye website and Google found the pictures in the posts were not taken in Papua New Guinea.
The image of the man was taken by Reuters news agency on July 16 (archived link).
The caption says it shows a man who received treatment against mpox at a hospital in Goma, in east DRC's North Kivu province.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the picture in the false posts (left) and the photo from Reuters (right):
The second image was published by UNICEF in an article about the risk the mpox outbreak posed to children in the DRC (archived link).
The UN children's agency said it was taken at "the Mpox isolation unit of the UNICEF-supported Kamanyola Hospital in South Kivu province" on July 24.
Below is a screenshot of the misrepresented picture (left) and the photo published by UNICEF (right):
AFP has debunked other misinformation about mpox here.
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