LONDON — The news spread like wildfire after the World Health Organization reported that about half of new HIV cases in Greece were “self-inflicted” as a way to get state benefit payment.
Social media erupted Monday. There were headlines everywhere from The Daily Mail to the Drudge Report to Al-Jazeera. But on Tuesday morning, the World Health Organization and the group that produced the report conceded that the HIV claim was not true.
“There is no evidence of people in Greece or anywhere else in Europe deliberately infecting themselves,” said Martin Donoghoe, a spokesman for the health organization.
So what happened? It was an editing error, the group said. It apologized.
The claim was part of a single sentence on page 112 of the organization’s European region report, which was first published in September and more broadly publicized by the agency in late October.
“HIV rates and heroin use have risen significantly, with about half of new HIV infections being self-inflicted to enable people to receive benefits of [700 euros] per month and faster admission on to drug substitution programs,” the report said.
A spokeswoman for the Institute of Health Equity said Monday that the claim came from a Lancet study. But that 2011 Lancet study said only “a few” such cases had been found.