Posts Distort Chinese Research Creating Fragment of Monkeypox Viral Genome
SciCheck Digest
A Wuhan Institute of Virology study describes assembling part of a monkeypox viral genome for use in a diagnostic test. Although the researchers only made a fraction of the genome — and it matches a different version of the virus — social media posts are using the study to baselessly claim that the current monkeypox outbreak is a result of a lab leak.
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On July 23, the World Health Organization declared monkeypox, a less dangerous relative of smallpox, a public health emergency of international concern.
Monkeypox is a viral disease. People have typically become infected sporadically in the forested parts of Central and West Africa after an interaction with an infected animal. Once infected, however, people can spread the virus to others through close contact.
That’s what is happening now with the current outbreak, which was first recognized in the U.K. in May. So far, cases
