FACT CHECK: Threads Post Falsely Claims Mpox Is Airborne

A post shared on Threads claims Mpox is airborne.

Post by @susanbha

View on Threads

Verdict: False

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), the virus spreads through direct contact and is not airborne. A spokesperson for the CDC denied the claim’s validity in an email to Check Your Fact.

Fact Check:

Thailand has confirmed a “new, potentially deadlier strain of Mpox,” making it the first in Asia, according to BBC News. A 66-year-old man who traveled from Africa to Bangkok was infected on August 14, the outlet reported.

The Threads post claims that Mpox is airborne. “Mpox and it’s airborne now,” the post reads, before adding, “Wear A Mask y’all.” The post also includes an image appearing to show the progression of Mpox from macules to papules to vesicles to pustules to scabs.

The claim is false. According to the website for the U.S. CDC, there are two types of Mpox, and both types can be “spread through direct contact with infected wild animals, through close contact (including intimate or sexual contact) with a person with mpox, and through contact with contaminated materials.” The website does not mention anything about the disease being airborne.

Similarly, the WHO’s website reiterates the disease can be transmitted by “persons, through touch, kissing, or sex; animals, when hunting, skinning, or cooking them; materials, such as contaminated sheets, clothes or needles; [or via] pregnant persons, who may pass the virus on to their unborn baby.” The WHO’s website also does not indicate the disease is airborne. (RELATED: Does This Video Show A Line Of People In Nebraska Waiting To Be Tested For Monkeypox?)

The website for the NIAID does not include verbiage stating that Mpox is airborne, either.

Likewise, Check Your Fact found no credible news reports to support the claim. In fact, the opposite is true. On August 20, Lead Stories reported the claim was false, noting that multiple experts agree the virus is “not known to spread through airborne transmission” currently.

Although Africa’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the WHO both recently declared Mpox a “public health emergency,” the risk to the general public in the U.S. is “very low,” according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

A spokesperson for the CDC denied the claim’s validity in an email to Check Your Fact.

“There is currently no evidence of airborne transmission for either mpox clade. Both clades can spread through direct contact with infected wild animals, through close contact (including intimate or sexual contact) with a person with mpox, and through contact with contaminated materials,” the spokesperson said. In addition, the spokesperson directed Check Your Fact to the CDC’s website for more information.

Check Your Fact has contacted the WHO for comment. Check Your Fact also contacted the NIAID for comment on the claim but they deferred to the CDC.