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:

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. 2000

National Necrotizing Fasciitis Foundation
20 Feb. 2000

Sidebar: A Firsthand Account of Food-Borne Group A Strep
Update, 1 Feb. 2000

Last updated: 02/20/00

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