Can using a hairdryer kill off the coronavirus and COVID-19 disease? Fact Check
Messages and videos online claim that patients can cure themselves of the 2019 novel coronavirus by pointing a hairdryer up their nose to warm their nasal cavity and sinus which will then kill off the virus.
FALSE
Also grouped with this claim is that patients can also use hot saunas to warm their bodies, which again will kill of the virus. This claim is most popularly spread through a video presentation by a man identified as Dän Lee Dimke.
Screenshot below.
The false claims made alongside this hoax assert the virus “gathers” in the nasal and sinus cavities, and as such is vulnerable to being killed off by hot air from a hairdryer or sauna.
By contrast, the reality is somewhat more complex. The 2019 novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) is a virus that can cause severe acute respiratory syndrome. It attaches itself to a victim on a cellular level, including in the nasal cavities, throat and, in more serious cases, the lungs. The virus attaches itself to cell receptors before replicating itself and thus spreading. If the virus and resulting COVID-19 disease reaches the lungs, this can consequently lead to shortness of breath and in more serious cases, pneumonia.
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Needless to say, a virus that works on the cellular level, frequently across the entire respiratory tract, isn’t vulnerable to being killed off by sticking a hairdryer in your nose. The notion is simply baseless.
This is reflected in the fact that no medical entity or professional is recommending such an action; an action that could potentially go wrong if the heat from the hairdryer is too high which could result in causing damage to the mucous membranes in the nasal cavity.
As for Dr. Dän Lee Dimke, given the absurdity of his video presentation and subsequent assertions, it is perhaps not surprising to learn that despite using his doctorate title in the context of giving medical advice, he isn’t actually a medical professional. He has a doctoral degree in education with specialization in psycholinguistics (related to language and speech) and also lists hypnotist, astronomer and futurologist in his list of achievements and accolades.
Dimke’s original video presentation was removed by YouTube for violating their terms of service. However other copies and versions exist on YouTube and elsewhere online.
At the time of writing there is no “cure” or vaccine for the 2019 novel coronavirus. It can currently only be “killed off” by a person’s own immune system after infection.
We don’t recommend using his baseless methods to try and treat the coronavirus and resulting COVID-19 disease.
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