False claim that face masks cause bacterial pneumonia

False claim that face masks cause bacterial pneumonia

by
Miriam Fauzia

| USA TODAY

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The claim: wearing masks causes bacterial pneumonia

A viral message on social media is among many people who claim that mask wear provokes disease instead of preventing it.

Under an illustration of a transparent chest with a set of orange-tinted lungs, the Facebook message on February 20 claims that face masks cause ‘bacterial pneumonia’ by collecting ‘toxins and unhealthy bacteria’ trapped in the mask with exhalation.

“By wearing a mask … you inhale it all, causing infections such as bacterial pneumonia and hypoxia,” the image claims.

Another image shared by another Facebook user apparently confirms the warning of the first message with an image of a petri dish teeming with growing bacteria.

“These are bacteria that grew in a petridish (sic) from a swab taken from the inside of a mask after ’20 minutes ‘,’ the report said on 12 February. “THIS IS WAHT (sic) YOU ARE BREATHING.”

Both positions, which together received more than 800 shares, match.

‘I tell you, when I was’ adaptable’ and wore a mask, I got Covid. “God did not intend for our respiratory systems to be covered,” said one Facebook user.

“Unhealthy and debilitating! But that’s how they want us to be!” made another comment.

USA TODAY contacted both Facebook users for further comments.

Fact check: Prolonged use of face mask will not cause lung cancer

Bacteria can accumulate but pose no health hazard

Allegations that wearing a mask causes a variety of health problems, ranging from hypoxia or oxygen depletion to the weakening of the immune system, have been previously denied.

A claim in November alleging that people after the intensive care units who are sick with pneumonia due to mask were denied.

And as convincingly a visual as a bacterial plug petri dish appears, independent fact-checking organizations such as AFP Fact-checking and truth-or-fiction have found the image misleading.

“The petri dish image shows a heavy growth of fungi, not just bacteria!” The dr. Emad El-Omar, a professor of medicine at St George and Sutherland Clinical School, UNSW Australia, said in an email to AFP Fact Check in September.

“This is most likely because the dish has long been hatched and contaminated by mold spores (or molds) from the air, etc.”

Bacteria and other micro-organisms, commonly found during exhalation or sweating, can accumulate on masks but pose no health risk as long as masks are regularly washed or discarded, as recommended by the US Centers for Disease Control & Prevention.

Fact check: CDC does not inflate COVID-19 mortality rate

Bacterial pneumonia is caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae and is more prevalent in low- and middle-income countries where fewer people get the pneumococcal vaccine, according to the CDC.

Dr. Rossana Rosa, a physician for infectious diseases, told UnityPoint Health in Iowa that the condition usually develops through the “aspiration – or respiration – of the contents into the lungs. In terms of wearing a mask, the respiratory droplets breathe that land on the inside of your mask that you then inhale again will not give you any bacterial pneumonia. ”

“If you have mucus, you need to find a way to spit it out safely,” she advised. “That way, you do not run the risk of inhaling large amounts of mucus or saliva into your lungs, and thus bacterial pneumonia develops.”

Rosa also added that there is no evidence that ‘groups of people who regularly wear masks for a long time’ have higher percentages of pneumonia than the general population.

Fact check: Misleading meme suggests that deaths after COVID-19 vaccination are due to vaccination

Our rating: false

The claim that wearing face masks leads to bacterial pneumonia is FALSE, based on our research. While bacteria and other microorganisms can accumulate on masks over time, there are no potential health risks as long as the masks are washed regularly or discarded. According to health experts, mask does not cause bacterial pneumonia.

Our sources for fact-finding

  • USA TODAY, July 27, 2020, “Fact Check: What’s True and What’s False Face Masks?”
  • USA TODAY, November 12, 2020, “Fact Check: No Evidence of Mask Carriers Reach ICUs With Pneumonia”
  • AFP Fact Check, 6 October 2020, “Image of ‘bacterial growth of face mask’ is misleading, says microbiologist”
  • Truth or fiction, September 24, 2020 “Is this ‘petri dish full of bacteria knocked out of a child’s mask’ the risks of wearing masks?”
  • CBS12, 20 November 2020, “Bacteria grow on your mask”
  • US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, October 28, 2020 “How to Store and Wash Masks”
  • U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, May 4, 2020, “Pneumococcal Disease (Streptococcus pneumoniae) “
  • UnityPoint Health, 17 November 2020, “Expert straightens out 5 common face mask myths”

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Our fact-checking work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.

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