Health Hoaxes

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’.

Message claims that leaving onions around a room can absorb the flu virus along with bacteria that cause other illnesses thereby preventing people from becoming sick.

Message purporting to be from the Institute of Health Sciences in Baltimore claims that lemon is a “miraculous product” that can kill cancer cells, is 10,000 times stronger than chemotherapy, and is “a proven remedy against cancers of all types”.

According to a would-be warning message that circulates via social media, you should not call out the name of a person while he or she is sleeping. 

Circulating health “tip” claims that pricking the fingers and earlobes of a stroke victim with a needle to release blood can save the victim’s life and lead to a full and rapid recovery.