Fact-check: Is coconut oil an antibiotic and can it prevent dengue fever?
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Claims that coconut oil is an antibiotic and can prevent dengue fever have circulated for years in widely-shared social media posts in countries including the Philippines and India. The claims are false; experts including the World Health Organization have told AFP that coconut oil is not an antibiotic and can neither prevent nor cure dengue fever.
A photo of a purported hospital notice was published on a Facebook page called Philippines Report on July 4, 2019, with a caption saying: “For public awareness”.
The purported notice says: “This message is to inform you all that dengue viral is going on. So please use coconut oil below your knees till your footsteps. It is an antibiotic. And a dengue mosquito can not fly higher than knees. So please keep this in mind & start using it. Spread this message to as much as you can. Your one message can save many life’s. Dr. B. Sukumar, Sri Saisudha Hospital.”
AFP
