Q: Hello Dr. Good day, please I need to ask you something that I want you to help me shed some light into.
A female friend of mind told me that a man walked pass her business place and stopped, brought out a temperature like checking tools, insert it into her armpit, brought it out a few minutes later and told her that she has an infection inside her that if not treated soon will turn to HIV/AIDS and that the man also did same to her co worker and said same thing, and asked them that they should follow him/ come to Abuja for a free treatment @ their hospital, that they are free organization moving about to help people, and gave them his card and then walked away,
Please Doc, I want you ask you if such a thing is possible/exist?
Thanks in anticipation

A: Yesterday, I wrote on fungal infection of the scalp…a topic I’d actually written on before. I got another question on it and decided to rehash it again. I jokingly talked about people who felt that petrol should be applied to the area. Little did I know that that was the tip of the iceberg. The page was filled with loads of advice on the use of acid, solutions, creams and all manner of seriously bizarre solutions! I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. I am still convinced that, hopefully, a lot of those suggestions were jokingly made…I sincerely, deeply and truly hope so. But really, that’s why this page was set up and the show, ‘Tips for Healthy Living With Dr Ketch’ started. There’s so much information out there…most of them blatantly false and misleading. Take for instance, the question above.

People are going around taking advantage of people’s ignorance and their desire to be healthy. Please beware of quacks. There is absolutely no equipment or contraption even that can make a diagnosis of HIV/AIDS from your underarm. It has been isolated in body fluids like saliva but not in sweat. In fact, even in saliva, except where the uninfected person has significant wounds/sores in his/her mouth, he/she would have to swallow at least 1 litre of saliva to get infected 😀

Sexually Transmitted Infections make one more prone to HIV/AIDS, but again the standard means of testing for them is not by checking temperature (:D) or whatever else the guy was trying to feel in the arm pits. We should also be very careful about what we subject ourselves to. Don’t you think it’s a bit odd for someone from a ‘reputable’ organization to be walking around the street, looking for who to ‘screen’? If this were legit, information would have gone round through business, religious and/or community leaders; that way, the team would have been expected. A good example is the NPI immunizations. Before any team of vaccinators are dispatched to start another round of immunizations, people are usually notified. If not, it would be weird to have people turning up on your doorstep wanting to put ‘stuff’ in your child(ren)’s mouth(s).

In fact, when the treatment is touted as free, be even more cautious! Check with your local health authority, your doctor or come ask on this page. Some are legitimate and others are not. The promise of free treatment is probably the bait to lure you into whatever they are planning on doing. Thereafter, your guess is as good as mine! This is certainly one instance where ‘awoof’ can seriously, run belle!’ 😀

Finally, a lot of the different options suggested yesterday on my facebook page (www.facebook.com/healthylivingwithdrketch), for the treatment of scalp fungal infection, are actually dangerous. The mother of a scalp fungus patient, who I’d prescribed the oral anti-fungal for told me that before she started on the oral anti-fungal therapy, she’d been advised to rub petrol on the bald patches. But she had to discontinue it as she observed that her son, screamed out in pain anytime she did it. I guess, I don’t need to qualify this treatment as being harmful as the child’s reaction already says it all! Apart from the fact that the fumes can actually start a fire (potentially burning the person applying the petrol and the child), the petrol itself can cause irritation on the scalp.

Be safe people and don’t be gullible! There are a lot of pocket doctors out there! 😀

Have a great week ahead.

Here’s to a healthier you!