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.com 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” .