It’s cold and flu season, so dealing with a respiratory illness is not uncommon.
However, TikTok is fueling rumors — and possibly medical misinformation — about a so-called new “mystery virus” that has not been identified.
Videos discussing the virus began circulating in February when a video posted by @thatgirlkanesha went viral, prompting others to chime in and claim to be experiencing the same symptoms.
“You mean to tell me that everyone in the US is getting some virus but they don’t know what it’s called?” she said in the video. “When I say everyone, I include myself. I just had this so called virus last week. I felt very dizzy, I felt like I was going to throw up, I felt like I was going to pass out. All these symptoms don’t add up to me.”
Viral hard snowball
The video blew up online – with more than 1.6 million likes and over 53,000 comments.
“Tested negative for everything but so sick,” commiserated one commenter. “Has anyone had a sore nose and throat for days?” asked another commenter. “I was coughing so hard I couldn’t sleep at night,” added another.
In the following days, more and more people posted videos saying they had the same symptoms. One TikToker, @laksmysanchez, got more than 83,000 likes on her video about the same disease.
“Can someone explain to me how we’re all sick with the same thing, but it’s not the flu, it’s not a cold, it’s not COVID?” she said. “But we all have the same symptoms. We can’t breathe, sore throat. Some people even get pink eye.”
HCPs fight misinformation
The fear-mongering videos prompted several experts to respond to the widespread rumours.
Dr. Zachary Rubin, a pediatric allergist and clinical immunologist who has a large following on TikTok, posted a reaction video explaining that one possibility is that the “mystery virus” is simply COVID-19.
“It’s probably not much of a mystery because … COVID-19 is still circulating at high levels in the U.S.,” he explained, noting that sewage samples still show high levels of COVID as the virus has become more endemic in nature.
“A lot of people don’t get tested for [COVID], but even if you test it with a home test, it doesn’t detect it right away, and ideally you have to have several negative tests to be sure you really don’t have COVID,” Rubin continued. “Or you get a PCR test that’s done in a doctor’s office, because that’s much more sensitive at picking up the virus from your nose.”
Non-Covid options
If it’s not Covid, it could just be a number of other respiratory viruses that aren’t unheard of.
In another reaction video, Rubin pointed out that there are many respiratory pathogens circulating outside of RSV, influenza and COVID-19 that people can test for when they experience an acute illness.
A more extensive panel test can detect any number of other viruses, including different subtypes of influenza, human parainfluenza virus (HPIV), human bocavirus, whooping cough, enterovirus, and coronavirus 229E.
Other public health experts and health professionals agreed that the so-called “mystery virus” was probably some kind of cold or flu. However, they also expressed concern about how easily misinformation spreads on the platform.
Health misinformation on TikTok has been a major problem since the platform gained popularity, with one study finding that 84% of mental health content there is misleading.
In mid-February, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released an update on the 2023-2024 respiratory virus season, noting that it is likely past its peak but “far from over.”
Overall illnesses declined after a surge in late December, the CDC said, with hospitalizations for COVID-19, influenza and RSV also declining in January.
“However, respiratory disease activity remains elevated and some indicators of influenza activity have increased again,” the CDC noted. “While the respiratory virus season may have passed its peak, it is definitely not over. There’s still a lot of respiratory virus activity, so it’s not time to let our guard down.”
The CDC emphasizes getting vaccinated as one way to prevent severe illness — as well as taking protective steps like testing, masking, hand washing and physical distancing when experiencing symptoms.
