Chinese social media users say the US may be the source of the spike in monkeypox cases, which have now spread to at least a dozen countries.
A hashtag in the US reporting two cases of monkeypox has attracted more than 51 million views on Weibo on Monday.
The infectious disease became a trending topic on the platform after cases were found in the UK, Spain and Australia.
Chinese state media have accused the United States of deliberately spreading Covid-19, which originated in China, but has so far been reluctant to take the same approach to monkeypox.
Chinese social media users have heeded an NGO report depicting a fictional scenario for a monkeypox outbreak as evidence that the US deliberately spread the virus
Speculation on social media centers on a 2021 report on biosecurity preparedness planning by a US nongovernmental organization known as the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI).
The report describes a hypothetical scenario for a monkeypox outbreak, which was taken out of context by Chinese social media users to suggest that the US knew about the pandemic beforehand.
The NTI was founded by Ted Turner, an American philanthropist who also used his fortune to found the United Nations Foundation, along with Democratic politician Sam Nunn.
The organization models responses to weapons of mass destruction, focusing on nuclear, cyber, biological, radiological, and chemical attacks.
Weibo influencer Shu Chang, who has 6.41 million followers, said the report represented “a plan by the US to spread bioengineered monkeypox virus.”
Many Weibo users seemed to agree with her, with more than 7,500 users liking the post, according to Bloomberg.
Monkeypox cases are pictured in the US as of 5/23/2022. As of Friday, there have been 80 confirmed cases of monkeypox worldwide, including at least two in the United States
Following the Covid outbreak, the NTI partnered with the Munich Security Conference (MSC) to conduct a plan exercise aimed at reducing biological threats.
They chose “an unusual strain of the monkeypox virus” as an example for the exercise.
In the exercise, the two groups modeled the outbreak of the monkeypox strain in a fictional country called “Brinia” that eventually spreads globally, measured over 18 months.
In the scenario, the initial outbreak was “caused by a terrorist attack using a pathogen developed in a laboratory with inadequate biosafety and biosafety regulations and weak oversight.”
At the end of the exercise, the fictional pandemic resulted in more than three billion cases and 270 million deaths worldwide.
The hypothetical scenario occurs on June 5, 2022, beginning with an outbreak in Brinia after a terrorist group from neighboring country “Arnica”, also fictional, illegally engineered the virus.
The independent Arnican terrorist group – known as SPA – had worked with sympathetic laboratory scientists to develop a highly contagious and deadly pathogen.
Around 21 cases of monkeypox have been confirmed in the UK, with Boris Johnson saying he was “keeping an eye on” the virus but insisting it was not a “repeat of Covid”.
The terrorists spread the virus at crowded train stations in Brinia and timed the attack to take place during a national holiday, allowing the virus to spread further.
Authorities report 1,421 cases and four deaths in the fictional country, which has a population of 250 million in the scenario.
“Because monkeypox does not occur naturally in Brinia, local and international experts consider this outbreak unusual,” the NTI wrote.
“The Brinian government welcomes international investigations into outbreaks and seeks medical assistance from WHO.”
As the virus progresses, it spreads to another fictional country: the “Republic of Dranma”.
Dranma is enacting tough restrictions to slow the spread of the virus, shutting down mass gatherings, imposing social distancing measures and introducing mask requirements – similar to the strict lockdowns some nations have imposed during the Covid-19 outbreaks.
The map shows confirmed cases of monkeypox, so far 80 cases have been confirmed. The World Health Organization said Monday it had no evidence the monkeypox virus mutated
Another fictional country called “Cardus” keeps its economy open and downplays the virus and its potential impact, and experiences much worse death rates as a result.
In the hypothetical version, researchers soon learn that the monkeypox strain is resistant to existing vaccines, including the smallpox vaccine — while scientists monitoring the actual spread of the virus today believe the smallpox vaccine will be effective.
The hypothetical version used in the report is also much more contagious than the wild strain of monkeypox, with a baseline reproductive number of three used as a model for the “modified strain” compared to the rate of 2.13 actually observed in the wild will.
The strain had also been modified in the NTI scenario, while the World Health Organization said on Monday there was no evidence the monkeypox virus had mutated.
As of Friday, there have been 80 confirmed cases of monkeypox worldwide, including at least two in the United States.
NTI could not be reached prior to going to press with a request for comment.