Combating the spread of fake news remains a difficult problem. For this reason, it is increasingly urgent to understand the phenomenon of fake news. This review aims to see why fake news is widely shared on social media and why some people believe it. The presentation of its structure (from the images chosen, the format of the titles and the language used in the text) can explain the reasons for going viral and what factors are associated with the belief in fake news. We show that fake news explores all possible aspects to attract the reader’s attention, from the formation of the title to the language used throughout the body of the text. The proliferation and success of fake news are associated with its characteristics (more surreal, exaggerated, impressive, emotional, persuasive, clickbait, shocking images), which seem to be strategically thought out and exploited by the creators of fake news. This review shows that fake news continues to be widely shared and consumed because that is the main objective of its creators. Although some studies do not support these correlations, it appears that conservatives, right-wing people, the elderly and less educated people are more likely to believe and spread fake news.

The relationship between a subject’s ideological persuasion with the belief and spread of fake news is the object of our study. Departing from a left- vs. right-wing framework, a questionnaire sought to position subjects on this political-ideological spectrum and demanded them to evaluate five pro-left and pro-right fake and real news, totaling 20 informational products. The results show the belief and dissemination of (fake) news are related to the political ideology of the participants, with right-wing subjects exhibiting a greater tendency to accept fake news, regardless of whether it is pro-left or pro-right fake news. These findings contradict the confirmation bias and may suggest that a greater influence of factors such as age, the level of digital news literacy and psychological aspects in the judgment of fake news are at play. Older and less educated respondents indicated they believed and would disseminate fake news at greater rates. Regardless of the ideology they favor, the Portuguese attributed higher credibility to the sample’s real news, a fact that can be meaningful regarding the fight against disinformation in Portugal and elsewhere.

Cell‐mediated immunity and cytokines are probably involved in the pathogenesis of malaria. To investigate the role and the activity of different immune cells, we measured levels of tumour necrosis factor‐(TNF‐α), gamma interferon (IFN‐γ) and several interleukins (IL‐2, IL‐4, IL‐6 and IL‐10) in children with mild (MM) and cerebral (CM) Plasmodium falciparum malaria and compared them with those of healthy children from Guadalupe – Lobata District, St. Tomé Island, where malaria is mesoendemic. Both groups of patients had significantly higher levels of IL‐6, IL‐10 and TNF‐α than controls. For IL‐2, IL‐4 and IFN‐γ we found no difference between the groups. However, 24 h after admission the levels of IL‐10 and IL‐6 were significantly higher in CM than in MM patients, although 7 days after treatment they returned to normal levels, similar to those found in control children. Therefore, TNF‐α IL‐6 and IL‐10 increase during Plasmodium falciparum attacks in all children, not only in those with cerebral malaria. This finding suggests the activation of the monocyte/macrophage system during the early stage of clinical malaria.

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