KUALA LUMPUR, March 21 — Former deputy health minister Dr Lee Boon Chye has become the latest medical expert to debunk a claim made by Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba that drinking warm water can help to prevent the Covid-19 infection.
Taking to social media, Dr Lee explained that both the respiratory tract and gastrointestinal system possess different routes despite sharing a common area within the throat.
He also attached a diagram of the respiratory tract which showed the pharynx — a passage that contains the intersection between the oesophagus (throat) and the larynx.
“Covid-19 is an internal respiratory tract infection, whereby infected patients would have traces of the virus in the respiratory tract and not just in the throat.
“Even though warm temperature and warm water can kill viruses, you’d actually have to pump hot water into the lungs and this will flood the lungs and kill the patient before the virus dies!
“Drinking warm water is not an effective way to treat or prevent Covid-19 infection. Same goes to consuming alcohol as reported in Iran which does not kill the viruses,” he said on Facebook in response to Dr Adham’s remark.
In the anatomy of the respiratory system, the opening of the larynx has a special flap of cartilage — called the epiglottis — that opens to allow air to pass through but closes to prevent food from moving into the airway.
Many social media users have shared a video of Dr Adham’s appearance on RTM’s Bicara Naratif programme earlier this week, in which he recommended that Malaysians should ensure their mouths and throats are always moist, as this will help to wash the virus down the oesophagus, so that it can be killed by stomach acid.
Yesterday, United Kingdom-based Malaysian trainee surgeon Dr Nur Amalina Che Bakri, who first came to the attention of Malaysians when she helped pave the way for Ainul Mardhiah Ahmad Safiuddin’s successful tumour-removal operation in the UK, tweeted, “Not recommended by doctors and it is no evidence-based.”
According to a report by British broadcaster BBC, the rumour that drinking water at regular 15-minute intervals and keeping your mouth moist can protect you from Covid-19 is among the most widely shared online fables.
Last week, at least 27 people in Iran’s southwestern Khuzestan and Alborz provinces died from alcohol poisoning, as some turned to ingesting industrial-grade ethanol and methanol in a misguided effort to curb the spread of Covid-19 infections.
Dr Lee then further explained how a mechanism called aspiration exists to prevent food or drink from entering the lungs when one consumes a meal.
“If food or drinks accidentally enters the lung, it will cause aspiration pneumonia (a type of lung infection that is due to a relatively large amount of material from the stomach or mouth entering the lungs) and the consequences are serious,” he said.
He also urged the public to stay at home and obey the movement control order currently in effect while taking precautionary measures to prevent the spread of infection by maintaining good personal hygiene.
