Facebook Twitter Tumblr Close Skip to main content
A Project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center

Posts Distort Chinese Research Creating Fragment of Monkeypox Viral Genome

Posts Distort Chinese Research Creating Fragment of Monkeypox Viral Genome

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.