Medical Hoaxes

Medicine and its significance for the human well-being, in combination with general population close to zero understanding of the internal biological processes, produce multiple opportunities for the hoaxers. This category includes practical jokes, public myths, and wide-spread misconceptions.

Several Examples of the Medical Myths:

• Spiders under the toilet seat...Three women die after eating at the same restaurant. The "South American Blush Spider" - found under the rim of the restaurant’s toilet seat - is blamed for their deaths. This same venomous spider is also discovered in airplane toilets.

There is no such spider. The restaurant and medical journal mentioned in the e-mail do not exist.

• Don’t drink from the can...A woman drinks from a Coke can infected with dried rat urine, then dies a few days later from Leptospirosis.

Rat urine is not toxic, unless the rat is diseased. Leptospirosis can be spread to humans from a diseased rat, but the most common way is by eating or drinking contaminated food or water. Soda cans, once manufactured, are packaged in cardboard boxes almost immediately, then shipped out. For sanitary reasons, though, it’s still a good idea to wipe them off before drinking from them.

• Antiperspirants cause breast cancer... Antiperspirants contain harmful, cancer-causing substances that can enter the body through nicks caused by shaving.

Researchers conducted two studies, but found no conclusive evidence linking the use of antiperspirants to the development of breast cancer.

Category Table of Content

1. The girl who gave birth to rabbits
2. Trilby's Trance Publicity Hoax

3. Metalosis Maligna Hoax 
4. Psychic Surgeries in Philippines
5. Drinking 8 glasses of water
6. Dihydrogen Monoxide Hoax
7. Alcohol Kills Brain Cells
8. Communication while in Coma
9. Mammography for Early Breast Cancer Detection
10. How Mafia Boss tricked psychiatrists
11. Keeping the Dead Alive
12. Health Benefits for Men to Watch Female Breasts
13. The Girl Impregnated by a Bullet
14. Cold Water Drinking Causes Cancer
15. Vilcabamba: Valley of Longevity
16. OM Sound from the Sun
17. The Woman Who Never Laughed

18. The Boy Who Grew a Golden Tooth