WESTMINSTER, UK – A mother trying to protect herself and her family from the new coronavirus ended up being deceived by false information that led her to drink her own urine, Fox News reports.
For four days, the British woman and her four children swallowed their own urine, believing it would protect them from COVID-19, according to a report by the City of Westminster.
Urine is a waste product from the body. Its consumption is generally frowned upon in Western medicine, according to a 2015 study by Journal of Clinical and Aesthetic Dermatology.
The mother said she believes in natural cures. Even so, the medical community has yet to recognize anything as a cure for COVID-19.
So far, vaccines are the only thing clinically proven to prevent COVID-19 disease. But the mother cited a debunked conspiracy theory involving Bill and Melinda Gates when expressing her distrust of vaccines.
Misinformation proved to be a detriment to public health during the pandemic. In addition to drinking urine, many of the so-called cures or preventive measures have proved futile.
One of the most notable fake cures made headlines last spring, when former President Donald Trump reflected aloud about taking bleach to fight the virus.
This sparked a fierce reaction from health officials, political rivals and bleach manufacturers, but their efforts were insufficient.
A few days later, authorities began to report cases of people who drank cleaning products in an attempt to protect themselves from the coronavirus.