Medical Myths Trivia Quiz

Answer: No

While it won't cause diarrhea, according to Barbara Mikkelson of www.snopes.com, it will lower the body temperature make breathing difficult, cause seizures, and/or send the consumer into coma.

It make seem like a "harmless" prank, but it's one urban legend that's not as harmless as it looks.

Answer: False

There has been no proof that this incident occurred. Neither the hospital where the boy was taken, nor the makers of Resolve had any idea of the supposed death of the boy. What's more, Resolve doesn't contain any caustic ingredients, and if ingested, you're supposed to call the poison control center and discus your options. If you get it in your eyes, though, then you're supposed to go immediately to the ER if you can't rinse it out.

Answer: true

Several types of hand sanitizers contain as much as 62% ethyl alcohol. If ingested, they can give the person who ingested the hand sanitizer a form of alcohol poisoning. This is one reason that most bottles of hand sanitizer that contain ethyl alcohol have the warning "Keep out of reach of children."

Answer: No

As www.snopes.com states, this rumor is a bit absurd, as the use of asbestos is closely regulated by several agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency. One reason it's regulated is because it is a known carcinogen.

The only real worries that a woman has when using a tampon is Toxic Shock Syndrome and contact with dioxins, which are carcinogens, but hardly the same thing. When the EPA tested the levels of dioxins that were present in tampons, they found barely detectable levels. The FDA also claims that the dioxin levels in tampons are not a threat.

Answer: Ticks

This is an urban legend founded in truth. When embedded, a neurotoxin in the tick's salivary gland may cause paralysis, mostly in children. According to http://health.allrefer.com/health/tick-paralysis-info.html, "Affected children develop an unsteady gait (ataxia) followed several days later by lower extremity weakness that gradually moves up to involve the upper limbs. Paralysis may cause loss of respiratory ability and the patient may require a ventilator."

Ticks can also carry Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and many more.

Answer: It didn't happen

In the late 1800s, a woman named Mary Mallon contracted typhoid. While she didn't suffer from it, she was a carrier. She passed it on to thirty-three people, of which, three are known to have died from it.

According to www.about.com, "Forty-seven illnesses and three deaths were attributed to Mallon while Tony Labella (another healthy carrier) caused 122 people to become ill and five deaths. Labella was isolated for two weeks and then released."

While the exact number that she passed it to is not know, the consensus is that only three deaths were a result of her.

According to Baker, the man investigating the case of Typhoid Mary "She came out fighting and swearing, both of which she could do with appalling efficiency and vigor. I made another effort to talk to her sensibly and asked her again to let me have the specimens, but it was of no use. By that time she was convinced that the law was wantonly persecuting her, when she had done nothing wrong. She knew she had never had typhoid fever; she was maniacal in her integrity. There was nothing I could do but take her with us. The policemen lifted her into the ambulance and I literally sat on her all the way to the hospital; it was like being in a cage with an angry lion."

Answer: Horse

The drug Premarin has caused many controversies, because of how it's produced. Produced from the urine of pregnant mares, the product of the pregnancy is called a "PMU Foal".

Premarin is gathered by impregnating mares and confining them to a stall for the length of their pregnancy, which is 11 months long. There is a collection device that collects the urine, which can cause infections and sores as it can chafe against the thin skin of the mare. Once the foal is born, it either goes to a slaughterhouse, or gets bought by an adoption agency or a private owner, something which is happening more and more often because Premarin farms are starting to breed quality blooded horses.

http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1180953&lastnode_id=0

Answer: It's not true

According to www.snopes.com, a person may lose around ten cups (a cup being 8 ounces) of water a day, but gains at least four through food, which leaves only six glasses of water needing to be drank. The general consensus, though, is to drink when you're thirsty and eat when you're hungry.

Answer: No

While many people believe that the popular children's rhyme describes the Black Plague (also called the Black Death), it's simply untrue. The Black Plague started in Western Europe in 1347, and the first recorded (written) version of "Ring Around the Rosies" wasn't recorded until the mid-1800s. As www.snopes.com points out, we (the public) are supposed to believe that for more than 500 years, no one thought to record the rhyme? Or, it took that long to figure out what the rhyme was about? In 1961, James Leasor was the first person to "decode" the rhyme. Until then, there had been no mention of the connection between the Black Plague and the rhyme.

Sometimes a rhyme is just a rhyme, such as it is in this case.

Answer: Yes

In 2003, a doctor was trapped between the doors, and decapitated when the carriage ascended. Around thirty people a year die as a result of elevator related injuries.

According to the Center for Disease Control, "Incidents involving elevators and escalators kill about thirty and seriously injure about 17,100 people each year in the United States, according to data provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Injuries to people working on or near elevators - including those installing, repairing, and maintaining elevators, and working in or near elevator shafts - account for 14-15 (almost half) of the deaths. The two major causes of death are falls and being caught in/between moving parts of elevators/escalators. Incidents where workers are in or on elevators or platforms that collapse, are struck by elevators or counterweights, or are electrocuted are also numerous."

All of my information came from www.snopes.com unless otherwise noted.