The timeline of the hoax illustrates how digital misinformation evolves from trolling pranks into perceived public health crises when institutional authorities fail to address them directly.
| Timeframe | Hoax Development Stage | Medical & Cultural Reality |
|---|---|---|
| 2008, 2009 | First appearance on fringe imageboards as an image bait-and-switch. | Restricted to shock-site pranksters; ignored by formal public health agencies. |
| 2010, 2012 | Mainstream schoolyard virality; searches peaked globally on Google Trends. | Adolescent panic prompted questions to teen clinics and sexual health lines. |
| 2013, 2015 | Elected officials in New Jersey and Ohio mistakenly treated the myth as a real public threat. | Major health clinics, Planned Parenthood, and CDC partners published formal debunks. |
| 2016, 2026 | Folkloric internet history; cited in digital sociology studies on health misinformation. | Universally recognized as a fictional sexually transmitted infection and classic trolling artifact. |
Between 2013 and 2014, the myth reached such ridiculous proportions that public officials fell for it. In Trenton, New Jersey, a city council member publicly expressed alarm over the supposed disease during a civic meeting, demanding to know what the state department of health was doing to curb the outbreak. Local health administrators had to step forward and calmly inform city leaders that the entire premise was an adolescent practical joke pulled from an internet shock site.
