Question

A measles exposure at Dulles Airport is related to Disease X.

Answer 1

There was a potential measles exposure in Northern Virginia. The Virginia Department Of Health has taken precautions and posted instructions on what to do if you think you have been exposed. The key word here is "potential", and the good news is that according to the CDC, "As of January 25, 2024, a total of 9 measles cases were reported by 4 jurisdictions: Georgia, Missouri, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania." Given that there have been few cases, it is not an outbreak. 

"According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 'Disease X represents the knowledge that a serious international epidemic could be caused by a pathogen currently unknown to cause human disease.'” 

This TikTok is misleading in that it has the ability to confuse a viewer to think it is more threatening than it is. Most Americans are vaccinated against measles and, we know the pathogen that causes it, therefore it cannot become disease X.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8367867/

https://www.vdh.virginia.gov/news/2024-news-releases/virginia-health-officials-investigating-potential-measles-exposures-in-northern-virginia/

https://www.cdc.gov/measles/cases-outbreaks.html

Comments

Thank you for taking a deeper look into this. I appreciate that you addressed why the TikTok would be misleading to viewers. However, I was wondering, is there new information regarding this potential exposure? How was measles potentially exposed in the first place? I think this is a great start to a fact-check, but I would still like to learn more about how this happened and who should be concerned about this information.

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I appreciate how in-depth your research is and the plethora of health-related sources you've obtained. I like that you address the confusion this post could cause and make a direct claim about it. I would maybe try to include some of your research in your argument, rather than just including them in the end.

Answer 2

DC cautions residence of a confirmed a case of measles arrived at Dulles International Airport in the area of the main terminal between 4:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday, January 3, 2024 and the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport Terminal A between 2:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, January 4, 2024. They also mention it as potential exposes and nothing to freak out over, just to take caution if you were in the airport and do not have the correct vaccinations. 

PolitiFact comes out and addresses the tiktok relation to "Disease X". The article states " No reports from public health officials link the possible measles exposure to a potential new pandemic, or a possible Disease X. Disease X does not yet exist and is a placeholder name the World Health Organization uses to determine how to prioritize research and prevent another global pandemic. It has been the subject of conspiracy theories." This confirms that the tiktok is misleading. Yes there was one measles exposure but there is nothing related to Disease X and nothing to be worried about it.

https://dchealth.dc.gov/release/dc-cautions-residents-potential-measles-exposure

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2024/jan/17/tiktok-posts/possible-measles-exposure-at-washington-dc-area-ai/

Comments

I appreciate the information, but I am curious about your research methods. It might be good to have a backup source to PolitiFact just to guarantee that you're on the right path. However, I like the fact that you broke the claim into what is and is not true; separating the measles exposure from the Disease X claim seems like a good move to keep from over-generalizing. I also appreciate the added definition of what Disease X it so that a reader can have a better understanding for future use. This might help reduce panic at further claims about Disease X.

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PolitiFact rated the claim as 'false' -- why do you think it's exaggerated/misleading rather than entirely false?

Answer 3

Some earlier fact-checks must've been able to see the provided link for the claim, but for some reason, I can't access it. Here is another link, I would assume correlates to the original claim.

https://www.tiktok.com/@dontstopbelieving61/video/7324799605059652906?_r=1&_t=8jXJgvfgpPb&social_sharing=1

From here, I went to the page from where it was posted. Dontstopbelieving61 tends to just repost content that invokes some sort of emotional response. This page isn't a verified or a credible source by any means.

Next, I took a gander to duckduckgo to see if any applications similar to this have already been fact-checked, which is where I found,

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2024/01/19/no-possible-dc-area-measles-exposure-is-not-disease-x-fact-check/72268269007/

Additionally, I browsed my search engine with keywords like measles and disease x and I didn't find one source that connected the two. Separately, the World Health Organization identifies Disease X as "an unknown pathogen that could cause a serious international pandemic." The key word here is 'could,' meaning that there has not yet been an identified disease, at this time, that correlates with Disease X. This claim is false.

Comments

Why did you use duckduckgo? I have not heard of this site and was wondering if this was a credible source. How do you know the @dontstopbelieving61 isn't credible? Can you expand more about the things they repost?

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Interesting narrative on how you conducted your fact-check. Strong fact-checks don't really require mentioning all the steps you took to reach a claim's rating (true/false/misleading/etc.), however. A thorough explanation with citations and URL links to sources would be great.

Answer 4

This claim is false. PolitiFact, a fact checking website has declared this claim to be false. While news outlets have reported about a potential measles exposure after it traveled through Dulles and Reagan airports, DC Health said the transmission was low. There is no reports of a correlation between the measles exposure and Disease X.