Mpox isn’t misdiagnosed shingles

Several posts on Facebook, on Instagram, and on Threads have shared the false claim that mpox, the disease formerly known as monkeypox, is actually misdiagnosed shingles.

The posts base their claim on a video featuring Dr Wolfgang Wodarg, which was recently shared in an article on the US website InfoWars, and by its founder Alex Jones on X (formerly Twitter).

The article is headlined “German Doctor Warns Monkeypox Is Really Covid Jab-Induced Shingles”.

In the video that accompanies it, Dr Wodarg’s voice has been replaced with an English translation, which says: “If regional blisters occur, they are linked to severe pain in monkeypox. For heaven’s sake, this is the typical clinical picture for shingles. Shouldn’t they at least consider a differential diagnosis and question why it’s monkeypox just because of a positive Rostar [sic] test... They’re using corona side effects to invent new schemes and scare us again. It’s such a perverse industry that doctors should see through it.”

According to an automated translation of the original video in German, broadcast by the Austrian TV station AUF1 in 2022, this does appear to be roughly what Dr Wodarg said—although it isn’t word for word, and he mentioned a positive Roche test (not a “Rostar” test), probably referring to mpox tests manufactured by the pharmaceutical company Roche.

In the original video, Dr Wodarg implied that many mpox cases are in fact other diseases that cause similar symptoms, including shingles.

While it is of course possible that occasional cases of mpox have been misdiagnosed, it is certainly not true—as we and other fact checkers have often said—that mpox is actually shingles or a Covid-19 vaccine side effect, as many social media posts have claimed.

A clinical evaluation of the performance of the Roche mpox test found that it correctly identified 47 out of 47 negative samples, and 30 out of 30 positive samples.

We approached Dr Wodarg, AUF1 and InfoWars for comment.

What is mpox?

In simple terms, mpox is a disease caused by an infection with the monkeypox virus, a variety of orthopoxvirus. Other related viruses include cowpox and smallpox. People catch mpox through contact with an infected person or animal. It is thought to be more common among small rodents than among monkeys.

According to the NHS, mpox causes blisters that are sometimes confused with chickenpox. But chickenpox and shingles are different diseases caused by a completely different virus—varicella zoster.

Mpox can only be caused by a monkeypox infection and has nothing to do with Covid vaccines.

A significant rise in the number of cases of mpox in several African countries was recently declared a public health emergency of international concern by the World Health Organization (WHO).

We have written several articles about the disease, including during an earlier international outbreak in 2022.

Bad information can spread quickly on social media and may be harmful if people use it to make decisions about their health.