Coconut oil is not an antibiotic and can not prevent dengue fever.

The claims that coconut oil is an antibiotic and can prevent dengue fever circulating for years in publications widely shared on social networks, particularly in the Philippines and India. The claims are false; Experts, including the World Health Organization, told AFP that coconut oil was not an antibiotic and could neither prevent nor cure dengue fever.

A photo of a so-called hospital notice was posted here on a Facebook page called the Philippines Report on July 4, 2019, with a caption saying, "For Public Awareness."

The so-called notification says, "This message is intended to inform you of everything that is happening in viral dengue fever. So use coconut oil under your knees until you step. It is an antibiotic. And a dengue mosquito can not fly higher than his knees. So please keep this in mind and start using it. Post this message as much as you can. Your one message can save a lot of lives. Dr. B. Sukumar, Sri Saisudha Hospital. "

Below, a screenshot of the misleading message:

Screenshot of Facebook post

Similar claims about the benefits of coconut oil in dengue protection have been circulating online for years, for example here in a post on September 19, 2016 on an Indian Facebook page. A similar article was also shared here on Twitter.

This claim is false, according to experts from the World Health Organization, the International Vaccine Institute and the National Institutes of Health of the University of the Philippines.

Dengue fever is a disease caused by a virus transmitted primarily by female mosquitoes of the species Aedes aegypti, according to this description published on the World Health Organization website on April 29, 2018.

"Coconut oil is not an antibiotic. No evidence proves that it can prevent or cure dengue, "AFP told AFP on July 10, 2019, Gawrie Loku Galappaththy, a physician, malaria, and other vector-borne and parasitic-borne diseases. WHO.

Dr. Anh Wartel of the International Vaccine Institute, an organization that develops vaccines for various diseases, including dengue fever, said that antibiotics are not used for viral infections.

"Antibiotics are prescribed for bacterial infection, not for viral infection," she told AFP in an email on July 7.

Dr. Edsel Salvana, Director of the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology at the National Institutes of Health of the University of the Philippines, Manila, and Adjunct Professor of Global Health at the University of Pittsburgh, stated that there was no reliable scientific evidence to prove that coconut oil could prevent or cure dengue fever.

"This is not an antibiotic in that you can use it reliably for the treatment of the infection. It has some antimicrobial properties, but no randomized controlled trial has proven effective in case of active infection. It can not be used to prevent dengue fever. There are no reliable scientific data on the prevention of dengue fever or on any biological mechanism demonstrating that it can cure dengue fever. This can only be demonstrated by a randomized controlled trial and I am not aware of any published trials in peer-reviewed scientific journals, "he said in an e-mail to the AFP on July 8th.

Salvana also said that any oil can be used as a "barrier against mosquito bites", but they are unreliable.

"Any oil can serve as a barrier against mosquito bites, but these are neither reliable nor practical during a day. Proven mosquito repellents such as DEET have a chemical repellent effect on mosquitoes. A study investigated compounds containing insect and insect-resistant properties of fatty acids derived from coconut oil, but it is concentrated extracts. The unprocessed coconut oil has no effect on stable flies and has not been tested against mosquitoes, "he said.

Experts also agreed that it was not true that mosquitoes that spread dengue can not fly higher than the knees.

In an e-mail to AFP on July 7, Wartel said, "Aedes aegypti, infected mosquitoes can transmit dengue fever, they can spend their lives in or around homes where they emerge as" dengue ". adults and fly an average of 400 meters on average. It is not accurate to say that they can not fly higher than the knees.

In an e-mail to AFP on 8 July, Salvana said: "The mosquito carrying dengue Aedes aegypti is generally not very active, but it can bite over the knees without problems. The misconception is probably due to the fact that the mosquito is traditionally associated only at low altitudes <2000 meters. However, with global warming, mosquitoes are beginning to tolerate higher altitudes and have been discovered at more than 2,000 meters.

In addition, Dr. B. Sukumar, the author of the public health warning identified as the author of the public health warning, told AFP that He had not issued such an opinion.

"This message has been shared online for 4 years. I have already denied having issued an opinion. I do not know why every year this message is shared on WhatsApp. This is a false news, I have never issued any warning or such notice, "he said on July 5.