False claims of an Ebola outbreak at the Burning Man concert rage among conspiracy theorists after torrential rains left 73,000 stranded in the Nevada desert

False claims of an Ebola outbreak at Burning Man have sparked anger among conspiracy theorists after severe flooding left 73,000 people stranded in the Nevada desert.

Festivalgoers were hit by torrential rain this weekend in a “post-apocalyptic style” event, with many describing themselves as “stuck” at the venue. No one has been reported to have died.

Adding to the panic, people on social media claimed that an Ebola outbreak had occurred during the concert.

The disease — which causes severe fever, headache, diarrhea or vomiting — can be fatal, killing more than 11,000 people in West Africa between 2014 and 2016.

Accounts on X, formerly known as Twitter, posted fake screenshots of alerts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warning of a suspected outbreak.

A message on X sparked the mass hysteria. It claimed to show a CDC message warning of an Ebola outbreak in Nevada

The message read, “Ebola Outbreak Confirmed in Black Rock City, NV. It is recommended that all Burning Man visitors remain in their residences until further notice. The current state of emergency is in effect.”

It has since been removed and X has added Community Notes to every other post saying it is misinformation.

There is now widespread hysteria over the outbreak, with many people taking the false claims seriously.

One account even falsified a Forbes news article claiming the outbreak was true. X has since added a comment that this is a false claim.

Another story read, “If the Ebola outbreak at The Burning Man Festival is confirmed to be true, you can be sure it was a pre-planned and calculated operation by our own government.”

Another user claimed to have tested positive for Ebola on Saturday after attending the festival.

There is no evidence that anyone at Burning Man contracted Ebola.

Burning Man is set on prehistoric Lake Lahontan, a dry bottom popularly known as the playa. The soil consists of alkaline dust, which normally causes people to cough with ‘playa lung’.

Rainfall has flooded the Nevada desert, turning the dust to clay in recent days, meaning about 73,000 revelers are trapped until the landscape dries up.

An isolated death was confirmed by the Pershing County Sheriff’s Office on Saturday and officials said it occurred “during this downpour,” but it’s unclear if it’s related to the flooding and they gave few other details.

California’s Martha Diaz walks along a muddy road at Burning Man carrying platform shoe bags

An X account faked a Forbes news article claiming the outbreak was true. X has since added a comment that this is a false claim

“As this death is still under investigation, no further information is available at this time,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement Saturday night.

Campers’ tents and structures were breached by the pouring rain, leaving many people tired, wet and muddy all weekend.

Rumors of Ebola have now fueled hysteria, which has been exacerbated especially because the festival is so isolated and offers no medical assistance.

Despite the chaos, the hedonistic crowd made the best of the situation by organizing slip-and-slides and other unique Burning Man-esque activities.

Thousands of Burning Man visitors trudged through sloppy mud on Saturday — many barefoot or with plastic bags on their feet — as flooding storms swept across the Nevada desert.

About six inches of rain are believed to have fallen on Friday at the festival site, about 110 miles north of Reno, according to the National Weather Service in Reno.

To make matters worse, the revelers suffered from hypothermia after unprecedented storms washed away the festival.

Organizers urged festival-goers already on site to “save food, water and fuel and take shelter in a warm, safe space.”

WHAT IS EBOLA AND HOW DEADLY IS IT?

Ebola, a hemorrhagic fever, has killed at least 11,000 people worldwide after decimating West Africa and spreading rapidly over two years.

That pandemic was officially ended in January 2016, when the WHO announced that Liberia is Ebola-free.

The country, ravaged by successive civil wars that ended in 2003, was hardest hit by the fever, accounting for 40 percent of deaths.

Sierra Leone reported the highest number of Ebola cases, with most of those infected being residents of the country.

WHERE DID IT BEGIN?

An analysis published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that the outbreak started in Guinea, which borders Liberia and Sierra Leone.

A team of international researchers traced the pandemic to a two-year-old boy in Meliandou, about 650 kilometers from the capital Conakry.

Emile Ouamouno, better known as Patient Zero, may have contracted the deadly virus from playing with bats in a hollow tree, an investigation suggested.

Health workers attend to an Ebola patient held in an isolation tent in the Democratic Republic of Congo in July 2019

Figures show that nearly 29,000 people were infected with Ebola, meaning the virus killed about 40 percent of the people it affected.

Cases and deaths were also reported in Nigeria, Mali and the US – but on a much smaller scale, with 15 fatalities between the three countries.

Health officials in Guinea reported a mysterious bug in the southeastern regions of the country before WHO confirmed it was Ebola.

Ebola was first identified by scientists in 1976, but the most recent outbreak surpassed all other outbreaks in history, numbers show.

HOW DID PEOPLE CATCH THE VIRUS?

Scientists believe Ebola is most often transmitted to humans by fruit bats, but antelopes, porcupines, gorillas and chimpanzees may also be to blame.

It can be transmitted between people through blood, secretions, and other bodily fluids of people (and surfaces) who are infected.

IS THERE A TREATMENT?

The WHO warns there is ‘no proven cure’ for Ebola – but dozens of drugs and jabs are being tested in case of a similarly devastating outbreak.

There is hope, however: the US FDA approved the Ervebo vaccine in December 2019 for use against the Ebola virus.