A man shows students a poster on the symptoms of Ebola during a United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Ebola awareness drive in Gueupleu, Man, western Ivory Coast November 3, 2014.
A man shows students a poster on the symptoms of Ebola during a United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Ebola awareness drive in Gueupleu, Man, western Ivory Coast November 3, 2014. Reuters/Thierry Gouegnon

During the past weekend, an Internet hoax caused Doritos fans to freak out. A viral hoax claimed that Doritos bags contain Ebola virus after the disease became rampant in the factory of the tortilla chips.

The hoax came hard on heels of frenzy caused by an Ebola Halloween costume that stirred up controversy in the media. According to New York Daily News, a 4chan thread led to the trending hashtag #EbolaDoritos on Sunday. The hoax was backed by screenshots of fake Twitter posts from the fake accounts of major news sites, Facebook messages and more.

The 4chan users started circulating the fake reports that thousands of Doritos bags have been infected with Ebola virus. The thread slowly spread to Reddit on Sunday. One of the screenshots from a fake CNN account that went viral on social media sites read: "Workers at the Doritos factory were diagnosed with Ebola earlier today. Thousands of chip bags could be infected. #Ebola #EbolaInDoritos."

Another one was from a fake Fox News account. More and more fake reports started to spread and scared the public. Another fake report read: "Three employees at a Doritos factory in California tested positive for the ebola virus on Sunday." Pranksters crossed the line when they started posting a photo that showed some rashes they claimed appeared only after they had a bag full of Dorito chips.

However, it didn't take too long for Frito Lay to respond to the rumours spreading like wildfire. The company immediately addressed the hoax and declared that the claims are false.

"Internet rumors associating the Ebola virus with one of our packaged snack foods are absolutely and entirely false," a Frito-Lay spokesperson told the Daily News. "While the Doritos brand is always a hot topic in social media, it is unfortunate someone chose to use this or any brand for such an insensitive prank."

According to Buzzfeed, one of the fake reports claimed that Doritos' "floor manager Chris Poole" has been tested positive. It turned out that Poole is not a Doritos worker but one of the founders of 4chan.

For those unfamiliar, Ebola is hemorrhagic fever or EHF. It is caused by five types of ebola virus and is spread by direct contact with any type of body fluids of the infected person. According to Mayo Clinic, some of the symptoms of the disease are chest pain, rashes, cough, vomiting, nausea, internal bleeding and bruises on the body. Scientists are still in the process of developing a cure of the contagious, deadly disease. Below are some of the Twitter users' reactions regarding the hoax:

Fan alert! Internet rumors associating Ebola with one of our brands are FALSE. Pls RT. #Doritos

— Frito-Lay N. America (@Fritolay) November 3, 2014

So sad to hear about the Ebola outbreak in the Doritos factory. Our prayers are with their health. #EbolainDoritos — circus (@ethan_reptile) November 3, 2014