Experts say no scientific proof that root of elephant apple tree can cure rabies

"If someone gets infected with rabies and is showing symptoms, don't take them to the hospital because they won't be accepted," reads a Burmese-language Facebook post shared here on June 8, 2023.

Rabies is a fatal but preventable viral disease that is most often spread through the bite or scratch of an infected animal, usually a dog.

The post, which has been shared more than 500 times, claims a patient with rabies symptoms in Ann Township -- in Myanmar's western Rakhine state -- was sent home from a hospital so they would not infect others.

It says people can instead use a Burmese medicine that will cure rabies in one or two days.

"Get the roots of an elephant apple tree and leave them around the person who's infected. When it's around them, if they feel like biting, they can bite on the roots and the syrup from the root will cure them of rabies in one or two days."

The elephant apple is native to parts of tropical Asia, and the fruit's juice is used in traditional Burmese medicine as a remedy for rabies and epilepsy (archived links here and here).

What appear to be pictures of the fruit are shared alongside numerous images of snarling dogs in the post.

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Screenshot of the false Facebook post, captured on July 3, 2023

Similar claims were shared hundreds of times elsewhere on Facebook here, here and here.

But health experts told AFP the claim is false.

Dr Thurein Hlaing Win, country manager for public health website Hello Sayarwon, told AFP there is no cure for rabies once symptoms appear (archived link).

"There is no scientific proof that chewing elephant apple roots or other herbal [remedies] can cure rabies," he said in an email on June 9.

Jenna Sherman, program manager for Meedan's Digital Health Lab, added there is "no effective cure for rabies" (archived link).

"If someone believes they have been infected with rabies, they need to seek out medical care immediately to get a set of shots that prevents the rabies infection from taking hold in the body," she told AFP in an email on June 15.

Andre Coetzer, spokesperson for the Global Alliance for Rabies Control also stressed the importance of taking medication immediately after possible exposure to the infection (archived link).

"While the use of traditional remedies will not be discouraged in many communities, it is of the utmost importance that the use of Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) be completed," he told AFP in an email on June 29.

"This is the only confirmed way (with 100 percent effectiveness) to prevent the onset of rabies in humans."