As West Africa is agog with fear of the deadly Ebola hemorrhagic fever, multiple recipes of potential “folk remedies” have flooded the minds of Nigerians. Particularly, persistent suggestion that bathing in or drinking hot water and salt solution prevents and/or cures Ebola virus disease has been circulating widely among the public. Today, however, Information Minister Labaran Maku and Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu have both denied “healing” properties of the brine solution (a mix of large salt quantities and water), Premium Times and Daily Trust report, and warned Nigerians against believing such unfounded claims. The ministers advised us to observe “maximum environmental and personal hygiene to guard against contracting the deadly virus”. After receiving scores of messages from our readers who insisted on “spreading the news” of the newfound “cure,” Naij has tried to trace the origins of the aforementioned hearsay. This morning, a Nairaland forum user Adesewa posted a message confessing of and apologizing for “starting” the “hot-water-and-salt” Ebola cure rumour. “I am coming out clean because what started has a joke has escalated into the unprecedented,” Adesewa said and explained that yesterday (Thursday, August 7), a friend has suggested they “play a prank” on their friends by broadcasting a BBM message which said “the Ministry of Health has asked everyone to bathe with salt and warm water and drink some of it.” The news started spreading immediately, and Adesewa personally got a number of calls and messages persuading him to follow the mock advice. “All efforts to tell people that I was the one who started the joke failed. … Even my mum could me this morning, I did not know what to tell her. “Please don’t be harsh on me. I know this has gone out of hand. I never knew it would be this serious,” Adesewa begged. Although it is impossible to confirm or deny whether Adesewa was indeed the one to initiate the rumour, the story shows clearly how gullible people easily fall for a simple Internet lie. Luckily, some Nigerians have been trying to get through to others and convince them to be guided by common sense instead of blindly following questionable information. Muhammadu Buhari has, too, taken to his Facebook account urging his fellow Nigerians to “spread the message about the virus and create the necessary awareness among local populace”. He also reminded that “there is no any non-scientific or non-medical approach to dealing with the disease. Any such unconventional approach only increases the risk of infection and endangers public health safety”. mandrillapp/track/click.php?u=30098586&id=8dc97a12d521427ca3401478a1da5ccb&url=http%3A%2F%2Fnaij%2F70951.html%3Fnew_letter&url_id=6d64ea93ab6941c44b8cf4967d23ef6e61c94b6c
Posted on: Sat, 09 Aug 2014 08:12:45 +0000
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