As of April 4, Costa Rica has had 435 confirmed cases of coronavirus COVID-19, 25 still in the hospital, and 13 who have recovered and gone home. People have gone cuckoo, wondering when or if there will be a vaccine (probably in 18 months), and when there will be a cure. This pandemic panic has laid the groundwork for an amazing array of fake treatments and snake oil salespeople.

One of the first such charlatans was a Nigerian talent promoter who created her own professional-looking “true” news story, in which she falsely claimed that the cure for COVID-19 was cocaine – in its purest form. Her name is Bizzle Osikoya, and her social media posts were shared by thousands, quickly spreading from Nigeria to Los Angeles. Her site was so popular, that the World Health Organization (WHO), felt obligated to contradict the false information on her website saying, “Cocaine is a stimulating and addictive drug. Its consumption causes serious side effects and is detrimental to people’s health.” No scientific evidence indicates that it cures COVID-19.

Other rumored cures also circulated online, creating a cottage industry of goofy treatments and cures, catering to a public paralyzed by fear, in an environment where medical treatment and testing were often scarce, and gigantic holes in the information about the new virus were filled with rumors and myths.

The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) said, “There are no approved vaccines, drugs or investigational products currently available to treat or prevent the coronavirus.”

Some of the fabled C-19 cures advertised were:
~ Drinking massive amounts of alcohol, the stronger the better.
~ Wearing sesame oil all over the body.
~ Washing hands in children’s urine.
~ Standing for extended periods of time under hot hand dryers.
~ Enduring intense bodily heat or cold for hours.
~ Taking baths in Clorox bleach.
~ Spraying chlorine all over your body.
~ Eating massive amounts of garlic cloves or garlic soup.
~ Drinking piping hot cups of coffee or tea throughout the day.

An amazingly financially successful fake cure was “discovered” by Jim Humble, a self-proclaimed archbishop who maintains he discovered a COVID treatment using chlorine dioxide combined with lime juice. He says he discovered this while on a gold-mining expedition in South America. Doctors say this is the equivalent of drinking industrial swimming pool cleanser, and can result in burning one’s esophagus or stomach, or causing liver failure. It does not cure COVID-19.

A new movement was created recently by the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers, an awareness campaign really, called “Fight the Fakes”. This movement strives to dissuade panicked citizens from falling for the hype of salespeople on the internet or late night TV, hyping products that do not cure COVID-19, and may even damage one’s health.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “There is currently no approved treatment, vaccine or cure for COVID-19, and we are not only fighting a virus, we are also fighting an ‘infodemic”.

Jim Bakker, a disgraced Christian televangelist, popular in the US in the 1970s, but who fell out of favor after a few sexual scandals and five years in jail for a fraud conviction, sprang into action in February with the “Silver Solution”, a colloidal silver treatment his TV ad claimed “has been able to totally eliminate COVID-19 in 12 hours, killing and decimating it completely.” The price was $40 for a 16-oz bottle, plus shipping. Fortunately, the New York Attorney General issued a cease and desist letter to Bakker’s company in early March, following reports of severe nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and critical dehydration.
Arthur Caplan of NYU’s School of Medicine says, “There’s a lot of bunk, junk and crank stuff out there.” This includes herbs, teas, essential oils, tinctures, colloidal silver, Vitamin C, marijuana, and cocaine. He also debunked the rumor that being able to hold your breath for ten seconds or longer without coughing when you breathe again, does NOT mean you are free of COVID, or any other lung disease.

April Thames of the University of Southern California sheds some light on these coronavirus myths, “People have this heightened anxiety and they are willing to try anything out there that’s a possible treatment or cure. It creates an opening for scam artists and crooks.” She adds, “Anything online, ignore it.”
For now, the only prevention is Stay Home, Stop the Spread, and Save Lives

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