Hoax Warnings


	Alphabetical Index

NAME:	Infected Bananas hoax
ALIAS:	Necrotizing Fasciitis Banana Infection hoax,
ALIAS:	Costa Rica Bananas Infection hoax

In February, 2000, a warning message appeared that warned about several shipments of bananas from Costa Rica which were infected with a so called 'flesh eating bacteria'. This warning is a hoax. The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed that the warning message's facts are false:

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/banana.htm

The hoax message looks like that:

 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 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 people you care about as possible
 as we do not feel 15,000 people is an acceptable number.

If you receive this hoax message please ignore it and don't pass it on.