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| - On Aug. 7, 2024, Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO, an agency within the United Nations), called an emergency meeting to discuss an outbreak of mpox in Africa. One week later, the WHO did officially declare a public health emergency of international concern over mpox, but no public health emergencies have been discussed or declared for bird flu, nor have troops been deployed, and as such, this claim is unfounded.
On Aug. 7, 2024, Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, called an emergency meeting to discuss a rise in cases of mpox (formerly called monkeypox) spreading from the Democratic Republic of Congo to neighboring countries. Ghebreyesus said the meeting would be held as soon as possible and would allow him to decide whether the outbreak posed a "public health emergency of international concern" — or whether countries worldwide should be taking action to help combat the situation.
In response, Alex Jones, the prominent conspiracy theorist best known as the founder of InfoWars, claimed on social media that the United Nations was going to declare a global emergency over mpox and bird flu cases and use the emergency as an opportunity to deploy troops across the world.
(X user @RealAlexJones)
As with many claims that come out of Jones' mouth, the allegations were not based in reality.
The WHO, which is part of the U.N., did declare a global emergency over a rise in mpox cases on Aug. 14, 2024, a week after Jones claimed they would use such an emergency as a front to "deploy troops worldwide."
The mpox virus was also declared a public health emergency of international concern from July 2022 to May 2023, when the WHO lifted the designation as countries made progress in combating and containing the outbreak. Since that first emergency ended, throughout 2024, both the WHO and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have monitored the outbreak and provided public notices and advisories on their websites
However, Jones' claim about bird flu does not have any connection to real events. Unlike with mpox, the U.N. has not called any type of emergency meeting to discuss any kind of bird flu threat.
As of this writing, the WHO is tracking three different strains of bird flu — H5N1, H5N2 and H9N2 — and there are human cases of the various strains in Australia, India, Mexico, the United States and Vietnam. However, the outbreaks are not severe enough for the WHO to consider them "public health emergencies of international concern." The organization has described the "risk to the general population posed by this virus as low."
The CDC is also closely monitoring H5N1, the only bird-flu strain detected in the United States. The agency gives weekly updates about the disease's spread. As of Aug. 9, 2024, the CDC reported 13 human cases of bird flu since the start of the year, and they were located in three states: Colorado, Michigan and Texas. The CDC also rated the strain's risk to the general public as low.
Because Jones' claim about the U.N. preparing to announce a global emergency based on mpox and bird flu was not based in fact, his assertion about authorities using the alleged event to "deploy troops worldwide" was also untrue.
Sources
Avian Influenza A (H5N1) - Australia. https://www.who.int/emergencies/disease-outbreak-news/item/2024-DON519. Accessed 9 Aug. 2024.
Avian Influenza A (H9N2)- India. https://www.who.int/emergencies/disease-outbreak-news/item/2024-DON523. Accessed 9 Aug. 2024.
Avian Influenza A(H5N1) – United States of America. https://www.who.int/emergencies/disease-outbreak-news/item/2024-DON512. Accessed 9 Aug. 2024.
Avian Influenza A(H9N2)- Viet Nam. https://www.who.int/emergencies/disease-outbreak-news/item/2024-DON514. Accessed 9 Aug. 2024.
"Bird Flu 2024: H5N1 Virus News, Recent Measles Outbreak and Possible Mpox Public Health Emergency." American Medical Association, 7 Aug. 2024, https://www.ama-assn.org/delivering-care/public-health/bird-flu-2024-h5n1-virus-news-recent-measles-outbreak-and-possible.
CDC. "CDC A(H5N1) Bird Flu Response Update August 2, 2024." Avian Influenza (Bird Flu), 2 Aug. 2024, https://www.cdc.gov/bird-flu/spotlights/h5n1-response-08022024.html.
---. "H5 Bird Flu: Current Situation." Avian Influenza (Bird Flu), 9 Aug. 2024, https://www.cdc.gov/bird-flu/situation-summary/index.html.
Health Alert Network (HAN) - 00513 | Mpox Caused by Human-to-Human Transmission of Monkeypox Virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo with Spread to Neighboring Countries. 7 Aug. 2024, https://emergency.cdc.gov/han/2024/han00513.asp.
Human Infection Caused by Avian Influenza A(H5N2)-Mexico. https://www.who.int/emergencies/disease-outbreak-news/item/2024-DON524. Accessed 9 Aug. 2024.
Mpox - Democratic Republic of the Congo. https://www.who.int/emergencies/disease-outbreak-news/item/2024-DON522. Accessed 9 Aug. 2024.
Mpox (Monkeypox). https://www.who.int/europe/emergencies/situations/monkeypox. Accessed 9 Aug. 2024.
"WHO Calls Emergency Meeting to Discuss Jump in Mpox Cases from DRC." Al Jazeera, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/8/7/who-calls-emergency-meeting-to-discuss-jump-in-mpox-cases-from-drc. Accessed 9 Aug. 2024.
WHO Director-General Declares the Ongoing Monkeypox Outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. https://www.who.int/europe/news/item/23-07-2022-who-director-general-declares-the-ongoing-monkeypox-outbreak-a-public-health-event-of-international-concern. Accessed 9 Aug. 2024.
Updates
This story was updated to reflect the World Health Organization declaring mpox a global health emergency on Aug. 14, 2024.
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