Admissions 2025-26
Claim
A reporter presents the story that Uganda is witnessing a mysterious outbreak by a virus called Dinga Dinga, causing hundreds of people to tremble uncontrollably.
1st image : The video discusses about the viral ‘Dinga Dinga’ disease, which seems to have affected one’s body to tremble uncontrollably and thus make it seem like dancing. The video also claims that the outbreak of this unexplainable disease occurred at the Bundibugyo region, bordering the Democratic Republic of Congo, but has not spread to any other districts.
Fact: The viral media being circulated are primarily sourced from social media. Several popular news organisations have published articles on the same, some quoting ‘statements’ from the World Health Organisation and local Ugandan Government authorities. However, the official websites of either institution do not contain any information on the mysterious Dinga Dinga virus. Similarly, some websites also quote ‘Dr. Kiyita Christopher, the District Health Officer for Bundibugyo, told local media that the illness has not been observed outside the Bundibugyo region. Samples have been sent to the Uganda’s Ministry of Health for further analysis.’ Yet again, there is no confirmation from any official authority.
The fact-checking procedure:
Step 1: Reverse Key Word search lead us to the same information from various news organisations.
Step 2: Google Lens of few frames of the video revealed similar results.
Step 3: Checking the video, we observed it has a watermark of the logo of Firstpost, a news agency. Upon searching their official website, we did not find any news articles relating to the claim.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DD9FwyzOVMw/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Step 4: Further investigation led us to irrelevant news about other health concerns in Africa, including Mpox, Ebola and severe malaria which plagued the region in 2024.
https://www.who.int/emergencies/disease-outbreak-news
Fact Checking Club
The M.O.P. Fact-checking Club is a student-driven initiative on fact-checking of news stories. The main aim of the club is to build fact checking practice among students. Be a part of our fight against fake news by sending us your queries on WhatsApp at 7358702336.
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