Health Hoaxes

In recent years, a series of would-be warnings have circulated that claim that particular food or beverage products have been contaminated with HIV infected blood.

Circulating message that includes an image depicting an unusual rash on a woman’s breast, claims that the rash harboured live larvae that were feeding off her fat, tissue, and milk canals.

Message claims that drinking cold water after a meal will solidify ‘oily stuff’ present in the food consumed and will lead to cancer. A second version recommends drinking warm water with meals and tacks on unrelated information about heart attacks.

Warning message claims that researchers at Princeton University have discovered that electromagnetic radiation from decorative magnets stuck to refrigerator doors “radiated” the food inside thereby massively increasing the probability of cancer in test mice used in the study.

Circulating message claims that licking envelopes to seal them can result in cockroach eggs incubating and hatching in the person’s mouth.

Message purporting to be from a cardiac specialist claims that drinking water at specified times of the day can help activate organs, aid digestion, lower blood pressure and stop people from suffering strokes or heart attacks.

Widely circulated message recommends covering burns with plain flour as a first aid treatment and claims that the ‘miraculous’ remedy will stop the burn from blistering.

Circulating health message warns recipients not to eat shrimp or prawns while taking vitamin C because it can cause a chemical reaction that can lead to sudden death by arsenic poisoning.

According to a “warning” post currently circulating on Facebook, a Cadbury worker has been deliberately adding his HIV infected blood to Cadbury products.  

Circulating message warns that the immigration services of Algeria have recovered oranges from Libya that have been injected with ‘HIV & AIDS blood’.