A message declaring that a plant can "cure" Ebola is being widely shared via mobile phone in West Africa - but the claim is not true, and may be offering false hope to those living amidst the outbreak.
"Bitter-Kola has been internationally verified to cure Ebola", reads the note, which is being circulated on messaging apps and other social media. "Pls do not forget to share cheers!!!" it concludes.
Notes like this are being widely shared on messaging apps about Ebola and Kola
Bitter-Kola is another name for Garcinia kola - a plant that grows in parts of West Africa and has been used for centuries in folk medicine to treat colds and fevers.
So where did the idea come from, and how has it taken hold?
Back in 1999, some early stage laboratory tests did indeed show promising signs that a compound from the plant might halt the deadly virus. Crucially, the findings were never taken forward into more advanced tests, either on animals or humans, and no drug was ever approved for use. Today, an array of treatments are being investigated, but none involve Garcinia kola.
Nurses in Liberia preparing Ebola victim bodies for burial in the isolation unit of a ELWA Hospital, in Monrovia
The story has spread so widely that the Health Minister, Onyebuchi Chukwu, has made a statement refuting its claims. "As I speak to you now, there is no proof yet of any such fruit. I repeat, there is no proof yet of any fruit," he said.
The health ministries in Sierra Leone and Liberia have done the same.
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