An alarming story went viral sometime back claiming that a 10-year-old boy contracted HIV after eating a banana acquired at Walmart in Tusla, Oklahoma by his mother. The story that was posted by CNNews.com claims that the boy’s mother rushed him to the emergency clinic after observing specific symptoms like fever, tiredness, and chills before diagnosis was done and the boy found to be HIV-positive. Upon the story’s posting, it stirred up a lot of panic and reactions from people across the world.
The story goes further saying the boy was not alone as there were eight other children with similar symptoms after consuming bananas from the same superstore. What is more shocking is the indication that the bananas were evaluated by LHC laboratories and proven to consist of the virus.
This prompted many organizations and people to go about fact-finding on the claims made by this website. We also had to dig deep to ascertain the truth behind the allegations. Here are the facts we gathered for you so that you can also be informed.
The Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC), having undertaken in-depth research over several decades, confirms that HIV cannot be transmitted through food. This means consuming food handled by an HIV infected can’t lead to contracting the virus even if the food contains some traces of HIV-infected fluids like blood or semen. The argument is that exposure to the air, high temperatures while cooking, as well as stomach acid destroys the virus.
This story is not the first one to go viral with claims that foods such as bananas and fruits are injected with infected blood so that the virus can be transmitted to the consumers. In 2015, a similar hoax was made by a Facebook user who claimed someone was injecting bananas with infected blood in India and warned people to be aware.
We later confirmed that the site that shared the story, CNNews.com was not authentic and not affiliated with CNN in any way even though the site has a red CNN logo and comes with a title bar at the top of the page reading, “CNN Breaking News.” The site URL is missing and looking keenly; you realize the third “N” if for News. Another question one would ask is whether the rest of the children with similar symptoms tested HIV positive or not. Going by what the site covers as “News” no doubt this is a fake site and one to be dismissed. In fact, CNN wouldn’t be running such as stories as employees of McDonald’s ejaculating into some sauce! The truth is that the stories are fabricated and non-factual.
Lastly, recall details have been sought from several agencies including FDA to determine if indeed the Walmart bananas had a problem. In fact, no recalls for bananas were found at Walmart bananas meaning the story was just fake and only intended to perpetuate fear and panic amongst individuals who never read beyond the headlines.
Relax; bananas and food, in general, cannot be used to transmit HIV. Ignore the stories and get your fruit basket full of bananas without any fear.
References:
https://www.hivplusmag.com/stigma/2017/2/09/once-and-all-walmart-bananas-do-not-have-hiv
https://www.krem.com/article/news/local/verify/verify-can-you-get-hiv-from-a-banana/433809156
http://news4ktla.com/bananas-india-injected-hiv-virus-prior-u-s-shipment/
Comments