Flesh-Eating Bananas from Costa Rica!
Netlore Archive: Killer bananas from Costa Rica infected with necrotizing fasciitis, the deadly 'flesh-eating disease'? Don't panic, it's an Internet hoax
Description: Email hoax
Circulating since: Jan. 2000
Status: False
Email example contributed by S. Teboe, 10 Jan. 2000:
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Bad Bananas
Warning: Several shipments of bananas from Costa Rica have been infected with necrotizing fasciitis, otherwise known as flesh eating bacteria. Recently this disease has decimated the monkey population in Costa Rica. We are now just learning that the disease has been able to graft itself to the skin of fruits in the region, most notably the Banana which is Costa Rica's largest export. Until this finding scientist were not sure how the infection was being transmitted. It is advised not to purchase Bananas for the next three weeks as this is the period of time for which bananas that have been shipped to the US with the possibility of carrying this disease. If you have eaten a banana in the last 2-3 days and come down with a fever followed by a skin infection seek MEDICAL ATTENTION!!! The skin infection from necrotizing fasciitis is very painful and eats two to three centimeters of flesh per hour. Amputation is likely, death is possible.. If you are more than an hour from a medical center burning the flesh ahead of the infected area is advised to help slow the spread of the infection. The FDA has been reluctant to issue a country wide warning because of fear of a nationwide panic. They have secretly admitted that they feel upwards of 15,000 Americans will be affected by this but that these are "acceptable numbers". Please forward this to as many of the people you care about as possible as we do not feel 15,000 people is an acceptable number. Manheim Research Institute |
Comments: Can anyone tell me where in the world the Manheim Research Institute is located? If so, please drop me a line, because I haven't been able to find a shred of evidence that it even exists.
Necrotizing fasciitis. The name alone is enough to give someone the heebie-jeebies. Also known as "the flesh-eating disease" (much easier to pronounce than "neck-row-tie-zing fash-ee-eye-tis"), it is a real - though rare - illness resulting from infection by the Group A streptococcus bacterium, the same germ that causes strep throat. It attacks the soft tissues under the skin, resulting in gangrene. Amputation is sometimes required, and it can result in death.
It's a nasty disease, no question about it. But, while it is possible to contract Strep A by ingesting food that has been directly contaminated, this is both rare and unlikely to lead to necrotizing fasciitis. The notion that an entire crop of fruit could be infectious in this manner is patently absurd. The allegation that "the disease has been able to graft itself to the skin of fruits" is pseudo-scientific twaddle.
You needn't take my word for it. According to the Centers for Disease Control:
Group A streptococci are spread by direct contact with secretions from the nose and throat of infected persons or by contact with infected wounds or sores on the skin. The risk of spreading the infection is highest when a person is ill, such as with "strep throat" or an infected wound.
According to Alan Eckles, an epidemiologist with the Chatham County Health Department in Georgia (quoted in the Savannah Morning News):
"The bacteria that most commonly causes necrotizing fasciitis lives in the human body. FDA and CDC agree it cannot live long enough on the surface of a banana."
Translation: You can eat Costa Rican bananas without fear of them eating you. The email warning is a hoax.
MORE: The Great Banana Scare of 2000
Official statements and news reports. The hoax mutates faster than health authorities can debunk it.
UPDATE: Flesh-Eating Bananas in South Africa!
2005 variant claims Costa Rican bananas imported to South African may spread necrotizing fasciitis.
Sources and further reading:
Group A Streptococcus
Centers for Disease Control, 20 Jan. 2000National Necrotizing Fasciitis Foundation
20 Feb. 2000Sidebar: A Firsthand Account of Food-Borne Group A Strep
Update, 1 Feb. 2000
Last updated: 02/20/00
