The hantavirus has reignited conspiracy theories about COVID, vaccines, and "plandemics" in Europe.

Disinformation about hantavirus has reignited in Europe old conspiracy theories about COVID-19, vaccines, the World Health Organization, and pharmaceutical companies, shows a brief published by the European Digital Media Observatory, EDMO. The document analyzes the main themes of disinformation detected in May 2026 by the European fact-checking network and shows how a public health alert can quickly be turned into fuel for narratives about "plandemic," "Big Pharma," and forced vaccination.

In short

The EDMO network analyzed 1,558 fact-checking articles published in May 2026 by 32 European organizations. Disinformation about Ukraine accounted for 10% of the total articles analyzed, while that about immigration was 7%. Disinformation about the European Union represented 5%, that about COVID-19 4%, and that about climate change 3%. EDMO states that disinformation about COVID-19 increased by two percentage points, likely against the backdrop of falsehoods related to the hantavirus outbreak. The most widespread false story in May was that the hantavirus outbreak was "staged," in a "plandemic" narrative.

The EDMO brief shows that, in May 2026, European disinformation continued to be dominated by the war in Ukraine and immigration, but the hantavirus alert brought back into circulation informational reflexes formed during the COVID-19 pandemic. This means that a new medical event is not treated separately from the ecosystem of old conspiracy theories but is immediately absorbed into already known narratives.

EDMO collected the information through a questionnaire sent to fact-checking organizations in the network. The analyzed period is May 1-31, 2026, and 32 organizations contributed to the brief. In total, they published 1,558 articles fact-checking false or misleading information.

Ukraine remained the most targeted theme. 159 articles, or 10% of the total, focused on disinformation related to Ukraine. Immigration followed with 113 articles, equivalent to 7%. Disinformation about the European Union accounted for 82 articles, 5% of the total, while that about COVID-19 reached 61 articles, 4%. Other monitored themes included climate change, the war between Israel, the United States, and Iran, the crisis in Palestine, and disinformation about LGBTQ+ and gender issues.

The increase in disinformation about COVID-19 is linked, according to EDMO, to events associated with the hantavirus outbreak. After May 2, following the World Health Organization's report of a hantavirus outbreak on the cruise ship MV Hondius, false claims about the virus began to circulate.

The most important narrative was that the outbreak was "staged." EDMO describes it as part of a conspiracy theory of the "plandemic" type, a formulation previously used to suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic was planned or manipulated by authorities, international organizations, or pharmaceutical companies.

Other falsehoods attempted to directly link the hantavirus to the COVID-19 pandemic. Some posts claimed that the hantavirus was a side effect of anti-COVID vaccines. Others presented the outbreak as a new stage in a supposed mass vaccination strategy. EDMO notes that the shadow of disinformation related to COVID-19 remains present over falsehoods about hantavirus, as has happened in other public health emergencies.

Narratives about pharmaceutical companies were immediately revived. Claims circulated that companies had created the virus and already had a vaccine prepared. Another false claim presented the director of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, as having said that the outbreak would be exploited for the vaccination of children.

These messages operate through a familiar mechanism: a real event, in this case, an outbreak reported by health authorities, is combined with old suspicions about vaccines, international institutions, and the profit of the pharmaceutical industry. For an audience that has been exposed for years to narratives about COVID-19, such falsehoods do not need to build a story from scratch. They merely reactivate existing distrust.

EDMO also mentions examples of fearmongering, that is, messages aimed at producing panic. Among these was a map that allegedly showed supposed hantavirus cases worldwide and the false claim that France had closed its schools due to the outbreak.

For readers, the stakes are not just whether a false story about a virus is believed or not. The issue is how medical emergencies can be used to undermine trust in public health communication. If every new outbreak is presented as evidence of a conspiracy, authorities, doctors, and journalists end up communicating in a space already contaminated by suspicion.

The brief shows that disinformation about health was not the only important area. Ukraine and Ukrainians remained constant targets. EDMO states that pro-Russian disinformation related to incidents or drone attacks attempted to instill fear among the European public and transfer responsibility for the risk of escalation onto Ukraine.

One of the four false stories with the widest circulation in the European Union in May was that the drone that hit Romania on May 29 was a false flag operation. In the same area, false claims continued to circulate about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the alleged corruption of the Ukrainian elite.

Ukrainian refugees were targeted in several countries in Eastern Europe. In Lithuania, a false claim circulated that Ukrainians had thrown aid to dogs. In Poland, another false narrative claimed that Ukrainian soldiers had vandalized a Polish cemetery. In Bulgaria, disinformation claimed that the public television BNT had begun broadcasting Ukrainian news as part of a supposed "Ukrainization" project.

Immigration was the second major theme. After the car attacks in Modena and Leipzig, disinformation attempted to turn the events into evidence for anti-immigration and Islamophobic narratives. EDMO notes that, in these cases, the attackers were not immigrants or Islamic extremists, but falsehoods circulated nonetheless, including claims about supposed massive demonstrations against immigration and in support of the AfD party.

These episodes also fueled older narratives, such as the "great replacement" theory. False claims circulated that Arabic would become an official language in France, that a medical school in Slovenia had removed pork from its menus, or that Amsterdam had banned advertising for meat.

The brief also includes an important indicator about AI. The share of disinformation content created or manipulated with artificial intelligence decreased by three percentage points compared to April and returned to levels from October 2025. Of the 1,558 fact-checking articles, 175 targeted content generated or manipulated with AI, accounting for 11% of the total.

The decrease does not mean that AI has become irrelevant. EDMO shows that AI continued to be used for falsehoods about Ukraine, including a video about the evacuation of the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, and about immigration, with a manipulated video in which a Syrian man allegedly sued the German state for higher social benefits.

In May, the narrative presenting Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni as an international anti-United States and anti-Israel figure continued. EDMO notes that the Italian leader was also targeted by sexist content generated with AI.

The four false stories with the widest circulation in the European Union in May were: the claim that the hantavirus outbreak is staged, content exaggerating the scale of the anti-immigration demonstration in London on May 16, the claim that Donald Trump bowed before Xi Jinping at the bilateral meeting on May 14-15, and the narrative that the drone that hit Romania on May 29 was a false flag operation.

At the national level, EDMO identifies other significant themes: false claims about electoral envelopes in Andalusia, falsehoods about demonstrations in Leipzig, narratives about the attacker's connections to opposition parties of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, and the claim that Denmark would withdraw from international organizations, including the European Union, the UN, and WHO.

The overall picture is that of a disinformation ecosystem that adapts rapidly. An outbreak of disease becomes a "plandemic," a drone incident becomes a "false flag," a local attack becomes an anti-immigration argument, and a manipulated video with AI becomes false evidence in a political debate.

For the European Union, the stakes are double. On one hand, disinformation continues to pursue major geopolitical topics such as Ukraine, migration, and international relations. On the other hand, public health remains a gateway through which old conspiracy theories can quickly return to circulation. In this sense, the hantavirus did not create a completely new narrative but reopened the archive of suspicions, fears, and informational reflexes left over from COVID-19.

The monthly EDMO brief No. 60, "Hantavirus disinformation rekindles COVID and vaccines conspiracy theories," was published on June 15, 2026, by the European Digital Media Observatory. The information was collected through a questionnaire sent to organizations in the EDMO fact-checking network. The reference period was May 1-31, 2026, and the main editors of the brief were Lucia Bertoldini and Tommaso Canetta, Pagella Politica/Facta.