Nobody died of any “strange disease” in LUTH- CMD
… Deaths of 13 persons not caused by HPV
The Management of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital(LUTH), Idi-Araba, has denied and condemned a social media report attributing the cause of death of 13 persons in the hospital to the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV).
Debunking the claim on Wednesday in Lagos, LUTH’s Chief Medical Director(CMD), Prof. Chris Bode, said the report was false and that nobody died of any “strange disease” in the hospital.
His words: “Let me state unequivocally that: No doctor made such a claim from this Institution. Nobody died of any “strange disease” in LUTH. HPV does not cause sudden mass deaths in humans.”
The social media report had ascribed the fake story to an unnamed “senior LUTH doctor.”
Bode lamented that while many have discovered the freedom of expression unleashed by people’s new-found passion for social media, its attendant responsibilities were yet to be appreciated.
” Otherwise, what does it benefit the purveyor(s) of such wickedly mischievous falsities who unleash such misinformation to cause mass anxiety without informing, entertaining or educating the populace?”, he queried.
According to Bode, “For quite some time, it has been a regular feature on social media and mass email messages to put up some spurious claims and then give it traction by attributing it to “a senior doctor in LUTH”.
He warned that the hospital has done nothing to attract such a reputation.
He noted: “We should check popular sites such as Wikipedia to verify any such spurious claims and establish the truthfulness of any unhelpful and misleading information.
“Medical literature informs us that the human papillomavirus causes a number of diseases in man, and the ordinary wart is the commonest of these.”
Bode revealed that the virus is also known to cause cancer of the cervix in females, genital cancer and cancer of the throat.
He stated that occasionally, the virus can prevent pregnancy.
He further explained: “The virus is found only in humans and it can be transmitted through sexual contact and infect the anus and genitals. HPV vaccines can prevent the most common types of infection and it is now recommended to be given in young girls between the ages of 9-13 to prevent cervical cancer.”
