Fact check: No evidence mosquitoes can spread monkeypox, experts say

The claim: Monkeypox is transmitted by mosquitoes

The majority of recent monkeypox cases in the U.S., Canada and Western Europe have spread through sexual or other forms of close physical contact, but that hasn’t stopped some on social media from fearing other forms of transmission.

One post generating panicked Facebook comments claims the virus could be spread the same way as malaria – through mosquito bites.

“MONKEY POX is transmitted threw (sic) Mosquitoes too omggg,” text in the July 31 post reads.

More than 4,000 Facebook users shared the post in three days. Other posts speculating about mosquitoes infecting others with the monkeypox virus have appeared on Twitter.

More: Monkeypox is spreading through sex, but it’s not an STI

In some cases, developing monkeypox lesions can be mistaken for mosquito bites.

But there is no evidence that mosquitoes transmit monkeypox to humans, experts told USA TODAY.

“There is no lab or epidemiology data that supports mosquito-borne transmission of monkeypox – and lots of data that refutes this diagnosis and supports direct contact,” said Dr. Ali Khan, an epidemiologist and dean of the College of Public Health at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

Follow us on Facebook! Like our page to get updates throughout the day on our latest debunks

USA TODAY reached out to the user who shared the claim for comment.

No evidence mosquitoes can spread monkeypox

Existing evidence does not indicate that monkeypox is spread by mosquitoes, several experts said.

One reason is that monkeypox is not spreading in the way in which a mosquito-borne disease like malaria or West Nile Virus would, according to Khan.

In a recent study of 528 monkeypox cases diagnosed between April 27 and June 24, almost all of the cases – 95% – are suspected to have resulted from sexual contact between men.

“This is not the epidemiology of a mosquito (or) vector-borne disease,” Khan wrote in an email. “That would lead to unlinked cases with no direct contact based on mosquito biting, habitat and travel habits.”

Fact check: Monkeypox can spread to anyone through close contact

Furthermore, a 1972 study of two species of mosquitoes showed they were “not competent vectors” of smallpox, meaning they were not able to be infected by the virus and maintain the infection, Khan said. Monkeypox and smallpox are “closely related,” and a smallpox vaccine is effective at protecting against monkeypox, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

While mosquitoes could theoretically transfer a tiny amount of infected blood from one person to another, the viral load of that blood would be too low to cause a new infection, said Ilhem Messaoudi Powers, a professor of microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics at the University of Kentucky.

“When individuals are infected with monkeypox virus, the … levels of virus in the blood do not reach a high enough level to be transmitted via a blood meal taken by a mosquito,” Messaoudi wrote in an email to USA TODAY.

Finally, scientists have been aware of monkeypox for decades – the disease was first discovered in monkeys in 1958 and first recorded in humans in the 1970s – and it is also closely related to smallpox, which has been the subject of scientific research for centuries.

Fact check: News report about monkeypox wastewater testing, not drinking water contamination

Yet decades of research on these viruses has produced “no evidence whatsoever” that monkeypox or other pox viruses are transmitted by mosquitoes, Scott Parker, a virologist who has long studied monkeypox, told USA TODAY.

Our rating: False

Based on our research, we rate FALSE the claim that monkeypox is transmitted by mosquitoes. The virus was discovered more than 60 years ago and is in the same family as smallpox, but no evidence has been found that monkeypox or any pox viruses are transmitted by mosquitoes.