Phony Ebola treatments are making their rounds online, and the FDA is warning against drug scams that claim to treat the deadly disease or prevent infection, News 10 reported Sunday.
The rumors have been fueled by a fear of the disease, the agency said. Since March, more than 1,000 West Africans have died because of the outbreak, and more than half of people who contact Ebola will die, according to The New York Daily News.
One of the fake remedies peddled on the internet suggested consuming turmeric and drinking and bathing in salt water.
The FDA has received various consumer complains about bogus products since the start of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, the agency said Aug. 18.
"There are no approved vaccines, drugs or investigational products specifically for Ebola available for purchase on the internet," the FDA said.
The agency added that "individuals promoting these unapproved and fraudulent products must take immediate action to correct or remove these claims or face potential FDA action."
There are experimental Ebola-fighting drugs currently being developed, but they are in the early stages of development and don't have the FDA stamp of approval yet. One of those drugs, Zmapp, has been administered to infected Americans treated at Atlanta's Emory University Hospital.
The two patients are said to be improving. Dr. Kent Brantly, one of the Americans who caught the virus in Liberia, said he is recovering and hopes to be discharged soon, the New York Daily News reported.
At least 1,975 people have been infected over the past five months, and 1,069 of those cases have been fatal. The infections have ripped across three countries: Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. Nigeria has also reported cases of Ebola.
The virus is a water or food-borne illness and is not transmittable through the air. It is spread through direct contact with bodily fluids of an infected person or through needles and other items that are contaminated with the virus, according to CBS News.
